


A Life That's Not His Own

by Sand_wolf579



Category: Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated (Cartoon 2010)
Genre: Autistic Fred Jones, Canon Compliant, Child Neglect, Complicated Relationships, Father-Son Relationship, Fred Jones Sr.'s A+ Parenting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 47,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22890292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand_wolf579/pseuds/Sand_wolf579
Summary: Fred Jones Sr. had never thought he'd be a father.  It wasn't something he'd ever wanted, but he'd do anything for the sake of the treasure, even raise a child that wasn't his.
Relationships: Fred Jones Sr. & Fred Jones
Comments: 54
Kudos: 118





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've just finished watching Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and I was surprised at how much I loved it. I came to really love Fred's character and his ridiculously complicated family relationships. I wanted to explore Fred's relationship with his Mayor not-Dad, so I started writing this thing. Fred Jones Sr. is a complicated character, as he desperately cares about the treasure, but he does actually care about Fred, and I wanted to get into that.

Brad Chiles was back in Crystal Cove.

Fred Jones frowned and stared in disbelief at the young, blond man who definitely shouldn't be here. Fred Jones had chased him, and the other members of Mystery Incorporated, out of town. He'd thought that the threat to their families from the Freak of Crystal Cove would have been enough to keep them away for good, but apparently Brad Chiles didn't have nearly as much familial responsibility as Fred Jones had thought.

There was something...different about Brad Chiles. He looked pretty much the same, except he looked slightly more like a man than a teenage boy. What was different wasn't his physical appearance, but his demeanor. Brad Chiles wasn't playing detective with the rest of his friends. Not even Judy Reeves was at his side, and Fred Jones couldn't remember ever seeing Brad without his girlfriend at his side.

As strange as it was to see Brad without all of his friends, what made it even stranger was that he wasn't alone. Remarkably enough, there was a child, an infant, in his arms. A child that looked a lot like Brad, but not without some Judy Reeves in there. Fred Jones had known that Brad and Judy were close, and they were adults now. It would make sense that they would take their relationship to the next level, but...but a baby?

Maybe the fact that Brad had a child wasn't so odd in and of itself, but what Fred couldn't understand was why Brad would bring his child with him back to Crystal Cove when he thought there was a monster and a curse out to get him and his family. It was reckless, and foolish, and Fred Jones needed to figure out what the young man was thinking.

Fred Jones frowned. He followed Brad Chiles from a distance as he walked around town. Fortunately, they didn't pass anybody who knew Brad Chiles personally. Nobody looked twice in his direction, which was in both of their best interest. If people knew that Brad Chiles was still alive, Fred Jones would either have to make good on his threat to ruin their families, or do nothing and risk Mystery Incorporated calling his bluff and all returning to find the treasure. _His_ treasure.

Fred Jones just hoped that he could get Brad Chiles to leave before causing a scene, and this time make him stay away. Fred Jones wasn't sure if he had the stomach to do anything really drastic, but he couldn't just back off and let them take the treasure. He had dedicated so much time and effort, as well as abandoned some of his previous morals. He'd come so far, he wasn't going to just abandon all of his hard work because he was queasy about taking things a step further than he already had.

Fred Jones scowled as he saw Brad walk into the town library. Brad wasn't a reader, Fred Jones doubted that much had changed in just two years. Brad didn't read for recreation, but he would if he was looking for specific information...like the location of a piece of the Planispheric Disk.

Fred Jones quickly followed Brad into the library. An instinct deep inside him, like a strong pull, told him to dig out his old Freak costume and scare Brad Chiles all over again, but he resisted. He may be near obsessed with the treasure, but Fred Jones still had self control. He may desperately want Brad to leave, but he had to be smart about this. Threats hadn't worked earlier, and they wouldn't work now. Not unless Fred Jones found out exactly why his general threat of a curse hadn't been good enough, and he came up with a new plan.

Fred Jones watched Brad Chiles as he browsed the shelves, though just a few moments later the baby began to cry. Fred Jones didn't know a lot about babies, but he knew this wasn't anything unusual. Babies and children cried when they were distressed. The baby was probably just tired or hungry. Or it could just be trying for unknown reasons and needed a few minutes to calm down. Whatever the case, Brad Chiles, as the father, or at least the caretaker, of the child, had to do something to deal with it. Stop the crying. However, Brad Chiles did nothing.

Actually, he didn't do nothing. Brad Chiles tried bouncing the baby for a moment before he groaned and looked around desperately. Fred Jones backed up behind a shelf, getting himself out of sight. He didn't want Brad Chiles to recognize him, at least not yet.

"Excuse me, do you need help?" A woman's voice said. She sounded friendly enough.

"Yes," Brad Chiles said quickly. There was a bit of rustling. "I can't get him to stop crying, but I have some really important work to do, would you mind?"

"Oh, not at all," The woman said. "I know how hard it can be to get anything done with kids around."

"Thank you so much!" Brad Chiles said eagerly. There was some more rustling and the baby's cries got louder. It seemed this didn't worry Brad Chiles at all, because a second later the younger blond came walking past him, his arms empty...without a child in them.

Brad Chiles ran off to look through bookshelves, grabbing promising looking books as he went. Fred Jones' deep instinct told him to go after Brad Chiles before he could get invested in the mystery of Crystal Cove all over again, but he could still hear the baby crying, as well as the woman speaking soothingly to him.

No, he wouldn't...Even Brad Chiles couldn't be so self centered as this. Fred Jones poked his head out from behind the shelf and looked towards the crying. His eyes widened when he saw a woman holding the small baby, who was still crying.

Fred Jones seethed. What kind of responsible parent left their child in the hands of a complete stranger who may or may not want to harm the child? It was absolutely horrible. This lady certainly seemed nice, but seeing her holding the baby just felt extremely wrong. Fred Jones felt the need to do something. It was similar to the pull to stop Brad Chiles or any of the other kids from Mystery Incorporated from getting the treasure, except this pull was even stronger.

Fred Jones cleared his throat, messed up his hair slightly and adjusted his clothes so he wouldn't appear as stuffy. He loosened his tie so it didn't even look proper, but like something that he would often see the other college students wearing. They seemed to think it was cool. Fred Jones just thought it was sloppy, but that wasn't the point at the moment.

"Brady, honestly, you couldn't wait a few minutes for me outside?" Fred Jones asked as he stepped out from behind the shelf. "I told you our child would be fussy because it's napti-oh," Fred Jones trailed off as he looked at the woman, who was staring at him in confusion. "I'm sorry, but why are you holding my son?"

"Your son?" The woman frowned in confusion and clutched the child tightly. She was protective, which was nice, but annoying to deal with.

"Yes," Fred Jones said in a tone that was completely even and left no room for argument. He may be lying, but he'd found that if he talked like he knew what he was doing, people would believe him. "I knew my husband had some work he had to do at the library, but the bus was late so I couldn't get here any sooner. Still, I can't believe he would ask a stranger to watch over our crying child. I honestly expect more from him," Fred Jones sighed in disappointment.

The woman didn't look convinced. "Your husband...what does he look like?"

"He's about this tall," Fred Jones indicated with his hand. "Broad shouldered, somewhat muscular, blond," Fred Jones gave the child a small grin. "Fortunately, our son got his good looks,"

The woman brightened. Fred Jones' description of Brad seemed to have convinced her. "Oh, don't be too upset with your husband. He didn't ask me, I volunteered," The woman held out the child, and Fred Jones immediately took him in his arms. "And it's only been a moment. I just thought I would provide some relief,"

"And that is very kind of you," Fred Jones said. "But if you don't mind, this little boy has to go take his nap. Thank you, miss, and good day," Fred Jones would normally shake her hand, but his hands were full so he nodded at her instead and made his way towards where he had seen Brad run off to.

Fred Jones had only taken his eyes off of Brad Chiles for long enough to get a hold of his child, and yet the younger man seemed to have disappeared. Fred Jones couldn't find him anywhere, and the baby in his arms was still crying. Fred Jones was starting to get some angry looks, and he thought it best if he left the library before he got kicked out. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself, and holding a screaming child had a tendency to do just that.

Fred Jones knew he couldn't exactly leave, as that would defeat the purpose of coming here to talk to Brad in the first place, so he did the next best thing. Fred Jones went to the entrance of the library, walked just outside, and kept an eye out for Brad Chiles from out there. The younger man had to leave eventually, it was just a matter of waiting.

In the meantime, the crying was starting to grate on Fred Jones' ears. He didn't know what the child wanted. He didn't know a lot about babies, but he knew that one way to keep babies from crying was by giving them a pacifier. Fred Jones didn't have any of those, but he didn't think it really mattered what was in the baby's mouth, but just that they had something to suck on.

Fred Jones sighed and used his free hand to pull his loose tie off. He hesitated for just a moment before putting the tie in the baby boy's hands. The child blinked in confusion before he squished the tie in his fingers. The baby's cry began to quiet to a whimper as he put the tie in his mouth.

Fred Jones grimaced in disgust. He tried to tell himself it was okay. It was unnerving to see a baby trying to eat his custom tie, but he knew there would be no permanent damage done. The baby had no teeth, it was just sucking on the tie aggressively. Baby slobber was getting everywhere, but Fred Jones had been planning on washing that tie anyways.

Now, he couldn't think about the baby. He wasn't crying anymore, so Fred Jones could focus on what was important, getting Brad to leave town forever.

It was a half hour or so before Fred Jones saw Brad Chiles come to the front desk of the library. He had a high pile of books in his arms. If he was bringing that many books out with him, Fred Jones doubted that he'd done any research in the library itself, which was a relief. He could nip this issue in the bud.

A minute later Brad Chiles walked out of the library, looking far too pleased with him. Fred Jones put his face into a neutral expression. He couldn't let Brad know that he was unhappy that he was in town. The key to keeping the Mystery Incorporated members away from town was by making sure they thought the curse was real.

"...Brad Chiles, is that you?" Fred Jones asked. The blond man jumped and looked at him in alarm. It took him a moment before recognition flashed in his eyes.

"Freddy, long time no see," Brad Chiles adjusted his pile of books. "What are you-" Brad's original question trailed off as he looked at the baby that had fallen asleep in Fred Jones' arms. "What are you doing with my son?" He didn't sound concerned or panicked, just confused. "And is he asleep? That's incredible! We haven't been able to get him to sleep in weeks." And now Brad looked far too excited that a man he barely knew and hadn't seen in two years had gotten his baby to fall asleep.

Fred Jones hadn't even done anything special. He'd just held the child and let him suck on his tie. It wasn't anything that extraordinary. It was the absolute minimum that he could do. Did Brad Chiles really think that was something to be admired?

"Where have you been?" Fred Jones asked. He'd been keeping a vague out for the Mystery Incorporated members, but he hadn't really cared much for where they actually were, just so long as they weren't in Crystal Cove. But knowing where they were might do some good, especially if all four of them were still together and trying to find the Planispheric Disk.

"Around," Brad Chiles said casually. He didn't seem all that eager to share his information.

Fred Jones had no patience for Brad's attempt at beating around the bush. He would get his answers, he just had to go about it a different way.

"What happened to you?" Fred Jones asked. He already knew what happened to them, as he was the one responsible for it, but he wanted to know what Brad Chiles was going to say.

"Oh, we had to leave," Brad Chiles said. "All of us. There was this monster, the Freak of Crystal Cove. It threatened to destroy our families if we came back. A monster. _It_. Was that what Brad thought of him? Somehow, Fred Jones was more amused than anything.

"If your family was threatened, why would you return with your child?" Fred Jones asked, and why wasn't Brad taking his child back? Fred Jones was still holding the baby. It didn't seem right.

"My family left town," Brad Chiles grinned smugly. He thought he had found a loophole, but Fred Jones wasn't going to let him get away with that. "As for the baby, me and Judy got married and had him a few weeks ago." So this wasn't just an infant, it was a newborn.

"Where is Judy?" Fred Jones asked. She was a mother now, so why wasn't she with her child?

"She's taking a break." Brad said. "Pregnancy was really hard on her...on both of us, actually," Which Fred Jones didn't understand. How would Brad be affected by the pregnancy? "Judy's body changed a lot more than either of us were expecting, and we agreed that while she was recovering, I would take the baby until she felt ready for this." Ready for what? To take care of a child? They'd had nine months to get ready for this. Fred Jones knew that taking care of children was difficult, but Brad and Judy really should be better than this. They had a child.

Fred Jones knew that Brad and Judy loved themselves almost as much as they cared about each other, but he didn't remember either of them being this vain. They had changed in these two years. Fred Jones wouldn't normally have a problem with it. He didn't care what other people's personalities were, as it didn't affect him at all, but who it did affect was the baby in his arms...a baby that Fred Jones hadn't heard a proper name for.

"What's your son's name?" Fred Jones asked.

Brad Chiles chuckled slightly and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, we haven't had the time to come up with a name yet."

"...what?" Fred Jones stared at Brad Chiles in shock. "You haven't named you son, and it's been a few weeks?" Again, they'd had nine months to come up with a name. It was clear that not only were they completely unprepared to be parents, but Fred Jones didn't think they ever would be.

"Hey, it's not easy to be a parent," Brad said, like he had done anything worthy of being called a 'parent' thus far, and Fred Jones highly doubted he had.

"If you're such an amazing parent, why would you bring your son here when your family was threatened?" Fred Jones asked. Brad Chiles had to know that his family was made up of more than just his parents. It now included Judy, his wife, and his unnamed son. If Brad Chiles wasn't completely positive that his son would be safe, why would he take the chance? It was idiotic, and showed where the man's priorities were.

If Brad Chiles didn't understand that his son was in danger, and that he really shouldn't have returned to Crystal Cove, Fred Jones would have to make him understand.

"Listen, I have work I have to do," Fred Jones said. "I never signed up to be a babysitter." He offered the child out to his father. Brad Chiles didn't look at all pleased, but he reluctantly put his books on the ground and took his son. Fred Jones picked up the books and looked them over. They were books that covered the occult, specifically curses, the history of Crystal Cove, Spanish conquistadors. It was clear that Brad was looking for information that might help him find the Planispheric Disk.

Well, that just wouldn't do.

"While you've all been gone, I've found some additional information that might interest you," Fred Jones said carefully. "At the old Spanish church," Brad's interest was immediately caught. "Find someone to watch your son, and then we can meet up there.""

"That sounds great, thank you," Brad grinned excitedly. "Just give me fifteen minutes and-"

"Two hours," Fred Jones said sternly. He needed time to put his plan into action. Besides, the sun would be down in an hour and a half, and for what Fred Jones had in mind, he would work best in the dark. Books in his arms, Fred Jones turned and made his way back to his home. He didn't rush. Fred Jones was calm and collected. He knew what he was doing, and he wasn't hesitating.

Once he was back in his home, Fred Jones dropped the books in the sitting room and hurried to his bedroom. He had a safe above his bed where he kept a piece of the Planispheric Disk, as well as his Freak costume.

It seemed that Brad needed a little reminder. The Freak of Crystal Cove wasn't just a monster from Brad Chiles' nightmares. He was someone who wasn't to be taken lightly.

Fred Jones dorned his old costume, which he hadn't thought he would have to wear again. It seemed like the Freak of Crystal Cove would have to come out of retirement.

As the Freak, Fred Jones spent more than an hour in his own home, moving around and refamiliarizing himself with the Freak. He couldn't let Brad Chiles recognize his voice, speech patterns, body language, mannerisms, anything. He couldn't just be Fred Jones in a costume, he had to truly become the Freak.

By the time Fred Jones was confident that Brad Chiles wouldn't recognize him, even subconsciously, the sun was beginning to set. There were just enough shadows around for Fred Jones to travel in and through without being seen. This disguise was for Brad, not for the whole town. Fred Jones wasn't eager to become the next local legend that everybody talked about. He just wanted Mystery Incorporated out from under his skin.

Fred Jones had nearly an hour before he and Brad Chiles had planned to meet, but he didn't plan on confronting the man quite yet. He needed leverage first, and Fred Jones thought he knew exactly what, or rather, _who_ that leverage should be.

It was unnervingly simple to find who Brad had left his son with. In just fifteen minutes Fred Jones had his hands on the baby. The designated babysitter was a teenage girl who was far too busy making out with her boyfriend to even know that the baby she thought was in the other room was being taken right out from under her nose.

Why Brad Chiles thought that this girl would know how to take care of a newborn child, Fred Jones wouldn't know.

With the baby boy in his arms, Fred Jones left and made his way towards the old Spanish church. As soon as Brad Chiles began to approach, Fred Jones would get him. He would make Brad Chiles wish that he'd never even thought of returning to Crystal Cove.

Even though they'd scheduled a time to meet, Brad Chiles showed up early, like Fred Jones had suspected he would. He was betraying Brad Chiles' trust, and just assumed that the other man wouldn't hesitate to do the same to him. He'd thought that Brad Chiles would try to get a head start on finding what Fred Jones had spoken of.

He really would be sorely disappointed.

When Brad entered the church and began to look around Fred Jones gave him a moment before he leapt down from the rafters as the Freak and landed in front of the startled man. Brad Chiles looked alarmed at first, but that startled look turned to one of horror when he noticed the sleeping baby in the Freak's arms.

"Me warn you," The Freak said roughly. He drew his finger across the sleeping infant's cheek, not harming him, but sending a clear message to his father. "No listen when me say no return to Crystal Cove,"

"Wha-hey!" Brad Chiles was trying to put on a brave face, but The Freak could see his hands shaking and he could hear the tremble in his voice. "Leave the kid alone. He has nothing to do with any of this." This was the first moment that Brad Chiles had actually sounded like a father, but too little too late.

"He your family," The Freak teased in a voice almost like a taunt. He waved a finger at Brad, as though to scold him. The Freak got serious a moment later. "Me was clear. No return to Crystal Cove!"

"I know, I know," Brad Chiles said desperately. He moved a hand like he wanted to grab his son, but he held himself back. He didn't want to give The Freak any further reason to harm the child. "Look, I'll leave, okay? We'll never come back to Crystal Cove. Just give me back my son. My wife will not be very happy if I return without him."

The Freak snarled. It almost sounded like Brad Chiles cared more about what Judy would think of him than the safety of his child. "Not good enough," The Freak held the child close to his chest in a way that could be seen as protective if the circumstances were any different. "New deal. Baby be safe if you no return to Crystal Cove...without baby."

"W-what?" Brad Chiles' eyes widened. "You...you can't be serious."

"Am serious," The Freak chuckled darkly. He wrapped his fingers in a feather-light grip around the boy's neck. He wasn't hurting the child, but he was certainly scaring his father. The Freak laughed when he heard Brad Chiles let out a cry of alarm and panic. "Leave!"

"But…" Brad Chiles looked at the Freak desperately, but he wasn't in the mood for giving mercy. He was sparing the child's life, and he'd made his conditions very clear. Brad Chiles would regret it if he tried to defy him again. Finally Brad Chiles' shoulders drooped. "Fine, you win, I'll leave."

"Child stay," The Freak said. He needed Brad to understand that he had made a mistake coming back, and that mistake wasn't without its consequences.

Brad swallowed thickly. "Yeah, the child stays, just...you can't hurt him!"

"He be safe if you no return," The Freak said. "Last warning." The Freak pointed to the door. "Leave," He didn't just mean the church, and Brad Chiles knew it. The man stared desperately at his son, his eyes wide. He lingered for much longer than The Freak liked, but finally the man closed his eyes and ran out of the old Spanish church, not looking back once.

The Freak didn't relax right away. There was always a chance that Brad Chiles would be foolish enough to turn around, so he waited. After nearly fifteen minutes The Freak felt confident that it had worked. Brad Chiles was gone, and with any luck he wasn't going to come back.

He sighed and let his Freak persona slip. Instead of the Freak, Fred Jones was the one who stared down at the still sleeping child in his arms. He'd managed to get rid of Brad Chiles, hopefully for good, but he now had another problem on his hands.

"What am I going to do with you?" Fred Jones asked. The baby just muttered in his sleep in response, completely unaware that his father wasn't there, and that he may never be there again. The child's whole life was in Fred Jones' hands, and he had no idea what he was going to do with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a multi-chapter story, but it may be a little bit before I get the next chapter out. I have other stories that I really should be working on, but I really wanted to write at least this first chapter.
> 
> Also, did anyone else wonder just how Fred Jones Sr. got Fred in the first place? The show didn't actually say whether Brad left Fred with Fred Jones Sr., or if he left him with The Freak. I went with The Freak, because why would Brad Chiles listen to Fred Jones Sr. say that his son would be unharmed if Brad never returned to Crystal Cove? As far as Brad was concerned, Fred Jones Sr. wasn't a threat to his son.


	2. Chapter 2

The baby was crying...again.

Fred Jones groaned and rubbed his sore eyes. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He really hadn't thought this plan through very much. It had been a week, and he still didn't know what to do with the baby. Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves hadn't been the most responsible parents, but Fred Jones didn't think he was much better. He didn't even know what he was going to do with the kid.

Fred Jones thought again and again that he should take the kid to a foster home or at the very least a family that would actually take care of him, but he always talked himself out of it. Fred Jones had given himself so many excuses, he wasn't entirely sure which was his actual motivation.

Sending the kid to a different family came with a possibility that the family would hurt him, and if Brad Chiles found out that the child was harmed, he might come back. If another family took care of the baby, they might tell him that they weren't his biological family, and then he would probably have questions about his birth parents...questions that Fred Jones would prefer weren't answered. And Fred Jones just had this... _feeling_ about the child. For one reason or another, he wanted to keep a close eye on this kid.

The baby continued to cry. Fred Jones tried to ignore it, hope for it to stop, but then he thought about Brad Chiles. The man had heard his child crying, and he'd just moved on with his day although there was nothing wrong. Fred Jones knew he wasn't a good person. He still felt the constant pull to find the pieces of the planispheric disk, and then the treasure of Crystal Cove. However, he refused to end up the kind of man that Brad Chiles was. Vain, arrogant, selfish, immature. Brad Chiles had been that way two years ago when they'd first met, and he'd gotten even worse when he'd come back. Fred Jones was many things, but he refused to be like that.

Fred Jones sighed and got to his feet. He went to the wailing child and hesitated for just a moment before picking him up. "Come on, little one, it's late. Don't you want to rest?" The baby reached up desperately and Fred Jones automatically brought his hand towards the child's. The baby grasped tightly at his finger, clutching at it like it was a lifeline. The baby pulled Fred Jones' finger to its mouth and began to suck on it. Fred Jones cringed and was about to pull back, but then he realized that the boy had quieted. He wasn't crying anymore, and was only whimpering now.

Fred Jones cringed at the baby slobber, but forced himself to hold still. He could wash his hands as soon as the child was asleep, but neither of them would be getting any rest if the baby kept crying.

"See? Isn't that much better?" Fred Jones grinned triumphantly as the child's eyes seemed to grow heavy. With luck, maybe he was finally going to get some sleep, and Fred Jones would be able to have a moment of peace. Fred Jones adjusted his grip on the child. "I should probably get you a pacifier. It would save me some dry-cleaning money." Fred Jones didn't want to keep his fingers in the child's grip forever, and he didn't want to sacrifice his ties to save his fingers either.

Fred Jones frowned as he realized that this was the first time he had really thought about getting things for the boy for the long-term. All he'd picked up was some baby formula and diapers, the things that were absolutely essential. The only clothes the baby had were the ones he'd been wearing when Fred Jones had picked him up. He knew that people needed more than one outfit, but the boy seemed perfectly content to wear absolutely nothing, and he hadn't wanted to spend unnecessary money on the child when he didn't even know if he was going to be keeping him.

Now, Fred Jones thought that he'd come to a decision. If he was being honest with himself, he'd known what he wanted to do from the second The Freak had gotten his hands on the boy. Fred Jones tightened his grip on the child and pulled him closer, feeling a possessiveness that felt more like it belonged to The Freak than Fred Jones. This boy was his, no one else's, and he wasn't going to let anybody take him away from him.

Fred Jones took a deep breath and tried to force himself to calm down. The Freak was just supposed to be a persona that he took up, a part that he played. He shouldn't let it influence him. He was better than this.

"It looks like we're stuck with each other," Fred Jones muttered quietly as the baby dozed off. He looked around the room. "I suppose I'll have to make a few changes around here." For one thing, the boy needed a crib, as well as a blanket that wasn't heavier than he was. Things like that would be easy enough to get, just a simple run to the store and some money.

More important than that though were the things that Fred Jones may not need right this second, but were absolutely a necessity in the long-run. Things that many people didn't think about on any given day, but would get a lot of unwanted attention if they didn't have it. Things like a birth certificate, a social security number, and, most urgently, a name.

Fred Jones wasn't normally in the habit of naming things. He'd never had a pet before, and he'd never even considered what kind of names he might give a child, should he ever have one. Now, he had a boy in his care, and that boy needed a name.

There was only one name that Fred Jones could think of, his own. He'd always thought that parents who named their children after themselves were either incredibly lazy, or very egocentric. He didn't want to waste time coming up with a name though, and if he gave the boy his name, it would give more validity to his claim to being the boy's parent. Fred Jones doubted that most people in this town would think twice about him saying that the boy was his, but if anybody had any doubts, they would go away once they heard that the child shared his name.

There was just one more matter he had to consider...the boy-Fred's-mother. Fred Jones knew it wasn't completely necessary to have a mother's name on a birth certificate, but it would raise some questions if there wasn't one. Specifically, it would raise questions from Fred Jr. Children were curious about their parents, and Fred Jones knew that sooner or later, Fred Jr. would ask about his mother, and Fred Jones needed to think of what he would tell him before that happened.

Fred Jones laid the child down on the couch. He knew he could simply tell Fred Jr. that his mother had died, but then the boy may have some additional questions. Fred Jones didn't have any qualms about lying, but the more lies he told, the more likely he was to get caught. Fred Jones needed a story that was plausible and encouraged as little questions as possible.

Maybe...Fred Jones could tell the boy that his mother had left. The boy may care less about a mother that he believed abandoned him. And the best lies were ones that had an inkling of truth in them. It wouldn't be hard for Fred Jones to keep a consistent story about Fred Jr.'s mother abandoning him, because as far as Fred Jones was concerned, that was exactly what Judy Reeves, as well as Brad Chile's, had done.

The only question that Fred Jones thought he would have a problem with was if Fred Jr. asked him what his mother looked like. If this child was half as stubborn as his birth father was, he wouldn't be content with an answer with little details. He would only be satisfied with something concrete, like a detailed description. Or, Fred Jones realized as his eyes glanced over to a stack of magazines that had been sent to him by mistake, a picture.

Fred Jones picked up the magazines, which he'd meant to throw away but just hadn't gotten around to it. There were all kinds of pictures of young women in these magazines. All he needed was a picture of someone who looked young, but not immature. He may just be picking a picture of a fake wife to trick the son that he'd stolen, but he still had standards. Fred Jones wouldn't have been involved with someone who wore skimpy clothes for a photograph.

The first magazine revealed nothing, but Fred Jones found exactly what he needed in the next one. It was a picture of a woman who looked beautiful, but not so extraordinary that she didn't look like someone who you would see on the street. And she bore quite a bit of resemblance to Judy Reeves. This was just another example of sprinkling some fact into fiction.

Coming to a decision, Fred Jones quickly checked on the child, making sure that he wasn't about to fall off the couch, and went to go find a pair of scissors. He knew that he didn't necessarily need to do this right now, but he thought it would be best before he talked himself out of it. If he was going to keep the boy and claim him as his own, he would have to commit fully to it. Part of that commitment was to pass this magazine picture off as a photograph of the boy's mother.

When Fred Jones returned to the magazine he got to work with cutting it out of the magazine. He had to be careful to keep it completely straight, or else his son may figure out that this wasn't a true photograph. He would also need to find a picture frame that would accommodate the picture. Ideally, he hoped to find another copy of this photograph. If one picture was convincing, then two could really seal this in for him.

Once the picture had been cut out and Fred Jones took a look at it, he was suddenly hit with a realization of just what he was doing. He was going to be raising a child, a boy that wasn't his, but he had to convince everybody, especially Fred Jr., that he was. This wasn't a small commitment, this would have to last for the foreseeable future, preferably for the rest of the boy's life. It was a frightening and overwhelming thought. Fred Jones was worried that if he thought about it for too long, he would panic and decide to send the child to an orphanage or foster home.

Fred Jones set the picture down carefully. He looked at the child sleeping contently on the couch next to him. This was what felt right for him to do, he had to follow through with it.

"I'm not ready for this," Fred Jones muttered. He put a hand on the boy's head. "But I'm certainly not ready to let go of it either." Just the thought of letting go of this child made him feel possessive, furious, and slightly ill. He may not feel like much of a father, and he didn't think he'd ever feel completely ready for it, but this boy, Fred Jones Jr, Freddy, was _his_ son, and he wasn't going to let anybody take this from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter than I would normally aim for, but there's only so long a chapter I can have when it's just Fred Jones actually deciding to raise Fred...My goodness though, these names are going to drive me crazy. You wouldn't believe just how much I've thought about what to refer to Fred Jones Sr. as. I couldn't exactly begin with calling him Fred Jones Sr., because in these first two chapters, Freddy wasn't even Fred Jones Jr. yet. I'm thinking of referring to Fred Jones Sr. as Mr. Jones until he actually becomes mayor, at which point he would be Mayor Jones. Or he could be Fred Jones while his son can be Freddy. I haven't decided yet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to continue to refer to Fred Jones Sr. as Fred Jones, and have his son go by Freddy. It just seems like the easiest, if somewhat confusing, option.

It was so difficult to find any information about the treasure of Crystal Cove that Fred Jones was almost ready to admit defeat and give up.

Almost.

He couldn't stop looking though, not when he had this feeling in his gut telling him that he was so close. He would find the treasure, and all of the effort would be worth it. All the sleepless nights of research, the countless dead ends, the loss of his morality and kidnapping of a child that he still didn't know how to deal with, it would all be worth the treasure.

Fred Jones couldn't stop looking for the treasure, he felt almost ill whenever he thought about throwing in the towel, but that didn't mean that he had to work on finding it all the time. Over the years Fred Jones had fallen into a bit of a pattern. He would search diligently for a few weeks for any information, following any leads he could think of. After dealing with constant disappointment he would take a break for a month or two, take care of the other priorities in his life, before he eventually returned to his research.

Fred Jones' latest round of research was particularly frustrating. He had felt so good about it, because he seemed to find new information every day. He was on a roll. He was confident that he was about to find the location of another piece of the planispheric disk. Fred Jones spent hours at the library and the private archives at Darrow University, searching and searching until he hit a dead end. All his new clues pointed to the Darrow family having a piece of the planispheric disk, which should be good news, but it just led to another dead end.

Fred Jones knew that Darrow University was supposed to have been built right on top of where the Darrow Mansion had been. If the Darrow Family really had a piece of the planispheric disk, it had probably sunken into the earth right along with them, but that did him no good now. Fred Jones had searched all over campus when he'd been a student, and he'd found no sign of Darrow Mansion or the planispheric disk. If he couldn't find it then, when he'd had full access, he wouldn't be able to find it now, when he was barely allowed into the libraries without being given suspicious glances.

It was infuriating that he'd put in all this effort, hours of research and planning, all for nothing.

It was nearly midnight when Fred Jones packed up his things and made his way home home, exhausted and ready to forget about the ridiculous treasure for a few months. Maybe he could look into getting himself a real job, because at the moment he was just working part time with Angie and Dale Dinkley to help them set up a spook museum or something of the sort. Crystal Cove was already known to be a haunted and spooky place. At the moment, it was the kind of haunted that scared away visitors. The Dinkleys were trying to lean the hauntedness of Crystal Cove to the kind that people were drawn to. They wanted to make it a tourist spot, and Fred Jones was assisting them.

He didn't personally care about tourists or drawing crowds in, but Fred Jones thought it was in his best interest to build up this idea of theirs. He knew that not all of the stories about monsters and curses in Crystal Cove were true, but he suspected that at least some of them were. The story about the treasure under Crystal Cove was one of those stories. It may be one of the more obscure tales, but Fred Jones had found it, and so had Mystery Incorporated, and other groups before them. If just one person truly believed the legend and came to Crystal Cove, everything that Fred Jones had done would be for nothing.

However, if he built Crystal Cove up as a tourist trap that was so obviously fake, then perhaps people would have no reason to believe that the treasure was real. They would see it as just another ridiculous story and leave it alone. The treasure would be all his.

As much as Fred Jones was interested in the Dinkleys' plan coming to fruition, he didn't want to dedicate his life to it the way that they were. It was just a side project to him, a way for him to ensure that nobody got in the way of his plan. Ideally, he would get a job that would allow him to have further access to information that just wasn't available to the public. Maybe he could get a job as a librarian, or a historian, possibly a professor at Darrow University, if he felt like he really should follow through with that Darrow family lead.

When Fred Jones returned home to his quiet house he found that the lights were still on. He sighed and turned off the lights as he went into the house. Freddy. Ever since the boy had gotten tall enough to reach the light switches and lamps, he just couldn't keep his hands off of them. Fred Jones sighed and turned the lights off as he went. He would have to have words with his son about this. He could turn things on and off all he liked, but he had to learn that he needed to turn lights off when he was done in a room, and he shouldn't turn off lights in a room that someone else was in, because Freddy had a habit of doing that as well.

Fred Jones sighed and made his way upstairs. He was far too exhausted and disappointed to think about doing anything other than sleeping. Tomorrow he would focus on figuring things out. Right now, he just wanted to forget about his unfortunate lack of research results. As Fred Jones went into his bedroom, he heard some creaks and rustles. He brushed it off as the old house settling.

Fred Jones prepared for bed. He had just laid down and was getting ready to really doze off when he heard the rustles again, this time it was accompanied by what sounded like whispering. Fred Jones sat up. Maybe it wasn't the house settling after all. It sounded like somebody was out there. So either there was an intruder in the house, and they were making far more noise than was necessary, or someone was awake who really shouldn't be.

Fred Jones frowned and reluctantly pulled the covers off. He grumbled to himself as he got out of bed and left the room. He kept quiet as he walked towards the source of the whispers. It was definitely Freddy, but why was he awake, and who was he talking to?

"I know I should be asleep, Tyler," Freddy said in a harsh whisper. He didn't seem to know just how to pull off a true whisper. Fred Jones hung back and glanced around the corner. Freddy was sitting close to the stairs, his legs dangling over the side and his arms wrapped around the railing. There didn't seem to be anybody else around, but Freddy still seemed to be talking to someone.

"I had that nightmare again," Freddy said quietly. Fred Jones frowned. His son was having recurring nightmares, and this was the first he was hearing of it? He didn't think he would ever understand this boy. When it came to menial, unimportant matters, Freddy talked non-stop, regardless of whether anybody wanted to listen. When Freddy went and hurt himself, or when he needed something important, like food or no clothes, he didn't say a word. Fred Jones wasn't ashamed to admit that he was annoyed by his son's pointless chatter, but if he had to talk about anything, it might as well be important, so why did Freddy insist on keeping everything important to himself?

"It was the monster," Freddy's tone was finally a quiet whisper. He sounded scared. "It took me into the caves."

Fred Jones felt a rush of anxiety. He knew what it was like to have recurring nightmares, his had also involved a monster and the caves under Crystal Cove. He hadn't had a dream like that in years, not since he had taken his piece of the planispheric disk. His dreams had led him to Crystal Cove in the first place and inspired him to become the Freak of Crystal Cove. If this curse was making Freddy have the same dreams, that couldn't be a good thing. If the monster that was taking Freddy to the caves in his nightmares was the Freak, he might be able to figure things out, and that was the last thing that Fred Jones wanted to happen.

"Freddy, what are you doing awake?" Fred Jones approached his son. If Freddy's dream was what he was worried it might be, he had to put a stop to it here and now.

Freddy looked up at him, his eyes wide. "Dad, I was just...talking to Tyler,"

"Tyler?" Fred Jones glanced over to the moose head that was hanging just above them. "You mean...the moose?" Freddy nodded shyly. "Frolicking fireflies, Freddy, why are you talking to the moose?"

Freddy shrugged and looked at the ground. "He's a good listener,"

"Well, I've been told that I'm a pretty good listener," Fred Jones knelt on the ground next to Freddy. He'd been told no such thing, but his five year old son didn't need to know that.

Freddy was quiet for a second before he drew his legs up from the edge and turned to face him. Freddy didn't meet Fred Jones' gaze, he just fiddled with that little scarf that he insisted on having tied around his neck. Fred Jones thought it looked ridiculous, but Freddy threw a fit whenever the scarf was taken from him, and it just wasn't worth the effort to take it from him.

When Freddy still didn't say anything, Fred Jones huffed impatiently. It seemed Freddy needed a little push to get him talking. "I heard you something about nightmares and monsters," Freddy was still looking at the ground. "You know, I used to have bad dreams about monsters too," This caught Freddy's interest.

"What kind of monster?" Freddy asked.

Fred Jones didn't know for sure that Freddy was actually dreaming about the Freak, and he was worried that if he introduced the idea of the Freak to Freddy, the boy really would start dreaming about him. It was best to be vague about this.

"It was horned and had the most untidy hair, or fur, or something," Fred Jones waved off his lack of details. "It just wouldn't leave me alone,"

"Mine too!" Freddy sat up eagerly. Fred Jones' words seemed to be enough for him. "How did you make the dreams stop?"

Fred Jones had chased off Mystery Incorporated and taken the planispheric disk. This wasn't exactly something that Freddy could do, or something he could inform him of. "I told the monster what I tell anybody who tries to waste my time. I told him to go away."

Freddy grinned, amused, but it slipped away a moment later. "I don't know how to do that,"

"I think I know how to help with that," Fred Jones stood up and picked up Freddy. If there was one thing he had learned from working with the Dinkleys, it was that people had a tendency to believe things that they wanted to be true, whether it was actually true or not.

Fred Jones walked downstairs and made his way to the basement. He had bought this house fully furnished. While he tolerated many of the taxidermy animals, there had been a handful of items that were too tacky for him, so he'd stored them in the basement. That wasn't the only thing down there though. He also stored some material leftover from when he'd made his Freak of Crystal Cove costume. He figured this was as good a time as any to make use of the things he kept hidden away.

Fred Jones had some things to talk to his son about. "Freddy, you said that the moose-"

"Tyler," Freddy cut in.

"Yes, Tyler," Fred Jones frowned. This was exactly the problem that he wanted to address. "Was tonight the first time you've spoken to...Tyler?"

"No," Freddy said quickly. "I talk to him all the time."

"About what?" Fred Jones was a little concerned about this new habit of Freddy's.

"Everything," Freddy sounded proud of this. His obvious pleasure went away when he saw Fred Jones' frown. "What's wrong?"

"Wilting willows, Freddy, you're talking to a moose!" Fred Jones said a little more harshly than he really meant to. Despite the fact that he was holding Freddy, the boy tried to shy away from him as he began to fiddle with his scarf again. He was getting upset. Fred Jones took a deep breath. He didn't want to scare the boy.

"What I mean is that there are certain things that people expect from each other," Fred Jones said. "You remember when we talked about that?" Freddy nodded. The boy had occasional issues with acting normal. He didn't always look at people when they talked to him, he would get stuck in his own thoughts and stop paying attention, and he didn't always play well with other children. When the local kindergarten had decided that Freddy wasn't developed enough to begin school, Fred Jones had taken matters into his own hands. He'd started trying to teach the boy how to fit in with other people. It was a long and slow process, and Fred Jones sometimes doubted that his son would ever be considered 'normal'.

"Well, this is another one of those things," Fred Jones said. "People don't constantly play with their scarves," He looked at Freddy pointedly for a long moment before the boy finally let his fingers fall away from his scarf. "People listen to each other. And people don't talk to stuffed mooses."

"But why?" Freddy asked quietly.

"Because that's just how it is," Fred Jones said tiredly. "Everybody has to do things they don't want to," Now really wasn't the time to talk to Freddy about this. It was a conversation for a different time. "If you really need someone to talk to, why don't you come talk to me?"

Freddy frowned slightly, looking very confused. "You're not here. No one's here,"

Fred Jones stopped where he stood and looked at the boy. He hadn't been home a lot these past few weeks, as he'd been looking for information about the planispheric disk, so nobody had been here to keep an eye on Freddy. He knew it wasn't the most responsible parenting in the world, but he didn't do it thoughtlessly.

Because Fred Jones had a lot of secrets in his home that he couldn't afford to have someone snooping around, he didn't have a nanny or housekeeper or anything like that. He used to leave Freddy with a babysitter, but the boy always pitched a fit to be left alone. Fred Jones had tried a dozen babysitters and daycare centers, but Freddy hated half of them, and the other half had called Fred Jones in the middle of the day because they couldn't handle him.

Fred Jones had spent a few weeks taking Freddy with him to work and the libraries, and the boy behaved himself, but it was difficult to get anything done when a five-year old was following him everywhere. Eventually Fred Jones had seen enough to suggest that Freddy was perfectly content to be by himself at home. Freddy had yet to show any signs of wanting to do anything dangerous, like running into a busy street or climbing onto tall places, so Fred Jones had decided to leave Freddy on his own for a few hours while he worked, and nothing had gone wrong. The boy hadn't hurt himself, he'd figured out how to get his own food without going anywhere near the stove. Things went fairly well.

Eventually Fred Jones began to spend nearly all of his time away from home, because Freddy seemed capable of not hurting himself, but not he saw that it wasn't quite enough. Freddy spent barely any time with kids his age, he rarely ever left the house, it was no wonder he didn't know exactly how to interact with others. Freddy barely knew what other people were like.

If Fred Jones was in his situation, he might have resorted to doing worse than just talking to a taxidermy moose.

"Well, I've hit a dead-end in my work...again." Fred Jones tried not to let his irritation show through. "So I'll be home more often."

Freddy brightened. "Really? You promise?"

"Yes, I promise," Fred Jones continued down into the basement. When they got downstairs he set Freddy on the ground. "Now, how about we take care of this nightmare problem of yours." Fred Jones looked around and moved things around until he found a small hoop. He continued around the basement, grabbing some fabric and thread leftover from when he'd made the Freak costume, as well as a taxidermy raven, some claws, and some of the material he used to make the Freak's horns.

"What's that?" Freddy asked.

"I'll show you," Fred Jones sat down on the ground and laid out his materials. His work with the Dinkleys had taught him a thing or two about making things up on the fly. Freddy sat down and watched in fascination as Fred Jones wrapped the hoop with the fabric and weaved some thread across it. He pulled some feathers out of the taxidermy bird and tied it onto the hoop with the thread. He then tied the claws to the horn material and attached it to the hoops. A few minutes later, Fred Jones was finished with his little project. He held it up in front of his son. "Do you know what this is."

"Um, no?" Freddy looked uncertain, like he was worried that his father would get mad at him for not knowing something.

"It's called a dreamcatcher," Fred Jones handed it to his son, who held it almost reverently. It was a sorry excuse for a dreamcatcher and looked like it would fall apart if someone looked at it the wrong way, but it didn't have to be pretty to do its job. "This dreamcatcher will protect you from nightmares. It will snatch them right out of the air and catch them in this net here."

"Wow," Freddy grinned. "Really?"

"Really," Fred Jones assured him. If these dreams were just a product of Freddy's imagination, just believing that the dreamcatcher would take away his nightmares would do wonders to get rid of them. If these nightmares were because of the curse, Fred Jones hoped that using elements from the Freak costume would deal with the nightmares the same way that becoming the Freak had taken care of Fred Jones' nightmares.

And if the dreamcatcher didn't work, Fred Jones was sure that Angie Dinkley had some sort of concoction that they could try. Maybe most of her supernatural potions and trinkets were fake, but maybe one of them could work.

"Come on, it's way past time for you to be asleep," Fred Jones picked up his son again and made his way upstairs. With luck, Freddy would get at least a few hours of sleep. Knowing this boy though, Freddy would be so excited that his dad would be around that he would immediately want to take advantage of that. Fred Jones expected to be woken up first thing in the morning by the eager boy. He was exhausted just thinking about it.

Taking care of Freddy wasn't easy, and Fred Jones felt like he was doing nothing but making mistakes, but he was willing to put in a little more effort. He'd decided years ago that the best thing to do was raise this boy, and his mind hadn't changed. Maybe it was time that he changed tactics a little bit, because it was clear to him that taking a hands-off approach wasn't working.

Fred Jones knew that it would be a month or two before he was itching to get back into his research, and he was going to take advantage of that time to figure things out with Freddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fred Jones is such an interesting character to write. He'd clearly not the best parent in the world, but he has to have been affectionate enough for Fred to continue to see him as his real dad. I know that at least part of it may just be that Fred is desperate for affection and approval from a parent figure, but that can't be all there is, because when Brad and Judy return to Crystal Cove, he doesn't try to seek out affection and approval from either of them. 
> 
> Also, I'm trying to give Fred Jones a little bit of a break, because being a single parent is hard, but especially when your child has special needs. I have a headcanon that Fred is autistic (because of his tendency to get near obsessed with traps and mysteries, and not exactly understanding that not everybody is as interested in them as he is. And the way that he's clearly really emotional, but has a hard time talking about his feelings, understanding other people's feelings, or even understanding his own feelings). So I'm incorporating that headcanon into this story.


	4. Chapter 4

After seven years of being a dad, Fred Jones realized that he would probably never know exactly what he was doing. Everybody talked about how great being a parent was, and while, yes, it could be extremely satisfying at times, it was also endlessly frustrating. How come nobody talked about how difficult having children could be?

Admittedly, Fred Jones had realized that raising Freddy was probably quite a bit different from raising most other children. Fred Jones didn't completely understand it, but he had come to realize that Freddy thought differently from other people. When Freddy was younger, Fred Jones had thought that the boy's slower development was because of his own lack of experience when it came to parenting. Now he recognized that it was deeper than that.

Knowing didn't exactly make things much easier. Fred Jones still frequently lost patience with his son when Freddy had a temper tantrum for seemingly no reason, or when he had to pick the boy up from school or talk to his teachers because Freddy was having a particularly bad day. And Freddy still had his moments when he was overwhelmed by everything around him and didn't seem to understand anything about the world at all. Despite the frequent bad moments, the two of them were getting better at this.

And even with all the bad days, Fred Jones had come to realize that his son wasn't nearly as spoiled and horrible as many children seemed to be. When Freddy started going to school, Fred Jones had reluctantly gone to the events that he was asked to go to. He didn't exactly want to, but Fred Jones wanted to keep a low profile, and when his kid was young and going to school, one way to draw attention to himself was by being noticeably absent from his child's school life.

At these events, Fred Jones saw a number of children who screamed and cried just for the sake of attention. Freddy screamed at inappropriate times as well, but at least it wasn't because he felt like he could get away with it. There were also kids who acted cruelly towards each other, with pushing, and name calling, hair pulling, and even giving the silent treatment.

Fred Jones was glad that his son didn't cause trouble like this, but then he got a message from Freddy's teacher saying that his son was being exposed to all of this and was having a difficult time making friends. Fred Jones didn't want his son to be a bully, but he didn't want him to be a victim either. No son of his was going to roll over and let others walk all over him.

Fred Jones didn't know how to teach Freddy how to stand up for himself. He hoped that the teacher did that part. What Fred Jones could do though was help Freddy find ways to fit in with the other kids. If he didn't stand out so much, Fred Jones thought that he wouldn't be picked on as much either.

Fred Jones looked into clubs or groups around Crystal Cove that he could sign Freddy up for. If the boy could make just a few friends, Fred Jones thought that he'd be able to handle school a little better. At the very least, he may find some allies who would be willing to defend him.

When Fred Jones saw sign ups for a children's soccer team, he thought that he had found just what he was looking for. Soccer was a team sport that was all about working together with others. Fred Jones didn't know anything about the sport, but considering the team was for children between the ages of 7-9, he doubted that they would be covering anything more than the basics.

Fred Jones had bought a soccer ball and a cheap net, so he could prepare Freddy for playing. If he had any other kid, Fred Jones would sign the boy up and then just leave the teaching to the coaches. Freddy didn't always adjust to change well though, and Fred Jones expected a few temper tantrums and quite a lot of crying. He didn't want to make the coaches deal with that right off the bat. He hoped that Freddy would be a little more ready to play if he had at least an idea of what to expect before they started.

Fred Jones had quickly read up on just the simple rules of soccer and went to find Freddy. The boy was in his room, doing the only thing that he seemed interested in lately: Playing with dominoes.

Fred Jones didn't understand the boy's obsession. One day Freddy had seen a video of a simple row of dominoes falling onto each other, and the boy had been instantly fixated. Fred Jones hadn't wanted to humor this interest, but when Freddy started to line up his antique books, some of them quite vital to his search for the treasure, to treat them as though they were dominoes, Fred Jones had given in and bought his son a simple, colorful, plastic set of dominoes.

Freddy wasn't always the best at getting his limbs to behave in the way that he wanted them to, so Fred Jones had expected his son to struggle to line up the dominoes. To his surprise, Freddy took to it like a duck to water. Not only was the boy able to stand up the dominoes without a problem, he was also able to line them up, keeping a perfect distance between the dominoes. It wasn't long before Freddy moved from straight lines to spirals.

Now it seemed that Freddy had taken things a step further. When Fred Jones opened the door to Freddy's room, he was shocked to see the elaborate layout in the bedroom. There were toys all over the floor, but it didn't look like a mess, but rather that they'd been set there very deliberately.

"Dad!" Freddy grinned broadly up at him from his spot on the floor. Freddy set down one final domino before he carefully made his way to his bed. "Stay right there. Watch this,"

"I'm watching," Fred Jones crossed his arms. He was curious to see just what his son was up to. Freddy's eyes shined with excitement as he grabbed a domino that was dangling from a string tied to the top bunk of his bed. Freddy pulled the domino back, aiming it at the dresser next to his bed, and let it go.

Fred Jones watched in fascination as the domino swung right into another domino, which fell into a line of dominoes. The final domino fell off the desk and right onto the remote control for Freddy's toy car. The weight of the domino activated the switch, causing the car to drive forward into another line of dominoes. These dominoes circled around Freddy's new stuffed bear, surrounding it.

"It worked!" Freddy cheered triumphantly. He jumped off his bed. "I trapped Mr. Trapples!"

Fred Jones, who was still trying to figure out where Freddy had learned how to set up a multi-step domino track, froze when he heard the words out of his son's mouth. They may sound completely normal to anybody else, but to Fred Jones he felt like he was hearing Freddy suddenly start to swear like a sailor.

"You _what_ Mr. _who_?" Fred Jones asked tightly, desperately hoping that he'd just misheard.

"Trapped Mr. Trapples," Freddy picked up his bear. He grinned proudly at his dad, but that grin slipped when he saw the shocked expression on Fred Jones' face. "Dad?"

Fred Jones blinked and his face slipped into a stony expression. "Where did you learn about traps?" Maybe Fred Jones was overreacting, but the glint in Freddy's eyes when he'd seen that his trap had worked, the unnecessary complicated nature of said trap, Fred Jones was reminded strongly of Brad Chiles. He hadn't known the younger man for that long, but his love for traps had been obvious, and Fred Jones was worried that Freddy had inherited that love.

Fred Jones didn't think that someone could inherit a hobby, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Fred Jones didn't want his son to become obsessed with traps. A feeling in his gut just told him that it was wrong. Fred Jones pushed down the deeper feeling that Freddy and traps was a combination that was oh so _right._

"I saw it on Sternum to Sternum," Freddy said quietly. "It's a tv show."

Fred Jones frowned. He hadn't set a lot of restrictions to the shows that Freddy watched, but maybe he should. At the very least, he knew that he would be looking into this Sternum to Sternum.

"Well, no more watching that show until I tell you otherwise, alright," Fred Jones said. Freddy pouted up at him, clearly not happy about this order. "And don't ask why. Just think of this as one of those things that you need to do because I said so,"

Freddy sighed and nodded. "Fine,"

"Look, I have something new that I wanted to try with you," Fred Jones grabbed his son's hand. "You might like it."

Freddy didn't look convinced, but he let his dad pull him outside. Freddy frowned when he saw the ball and net in the front yard. "We've played soccer in school. I don't like it."

"Why not?" Fred Jones asked.

"No one passes the ball to me," Freddy said as he picked the ball up. He turned it in his eyes. "And kicking is hard." Freddy threw the ball to his dad, who catched it easily and put the ball on the ground.

"Well, soccer isn't just about kicking," Fred Jones said. He gestured to the net. "Have you thought about being a goalie?

"We're supposed to take turns," Freddy said, a small, sad smile on his face. "The others keep on forgetting when it's my turn," Fred Jones suspected that it was less that they forgot and more like the cruel children intentionally skipping over him. Fred Jones didn't understand children sometimes. If they didn't want to pass the ball to Freddy, then you'd think they would want him to be the goalie, as he would be out of their way.

"Well, it's your turn now," Fred Jones positioned Freddy to stand in front of the net. "I'm sure you'll be a natural,"

Freddy still didn't look interested. Fred Jones was determined to get Freddy interested in soccer, as it might just make things easier going on. Well, when it came to Freddy, to get him interested in something, you just had to make him see how it was like something else that he was interested in. Same with getting him to understand something.

And Fred Jones just so happened to know of a new interest of Freddy's.

"Well, trapping isn't just about trapping something or someone else," Fred Jones said. He didn't know exactly what he was talking about, he was just making things up as he went, but he'd always been pretty good at thinking on his toes. "Sometimes you also have to know how to avoid someone else's traps, right?"

Freddy nodded. "Well, look at soccer as a giant trap. The net is, well, a net. As goalie, your job would be to keep the ball from going into the net, because that would activate the trap, and you don't want that to happen, do you?"

"No," Freddy said eagerly. When Fred Jones kicked the ball towards the net, Freddy was quick to catch it. "I won't let their trap activate,"

"Atta boy!" Fred Jones laughed as Freddy threw the ball back to him. He didn't know what had gotten into him. He didn't care about sports, let alone soccer, but he was so invested in getting Freddy into this game, and he was proud that he might have found just how to do that. "I'm telling you, if you keep up that mindset, you're going to be the best player on the team, and then everybody will want to be your friend."

"I don't really want to have friends," Freddy said sincerely. "I'm fine being on my own,"

"Well, I'm sure you'll be fine with friends too," Fred Jones said. "Just give it a try, for me?" He kicked the soccer ball back to the net, putting a little more force behind it. Freddy didn't back down, he stopped it.

"I'll try," Freddy promised, and Fred Jones knew he really would. Freddy didn't make promises lightly. He may get distracted, and his method of doing things may be odd, but if he said he would do something, he was certainly going to give it a try.

Fred Jones didn't know if soccer was going to stick with Freddy, , he would try something else. It was important for people to have something that they were passionate about and kept them busy, and Fred Jones was going to try his hardest to make sure that thing for Freddy didn't end up being trapping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there are a couple of reasons why Fred Jones is so against Freddy being intro trapping, even though his obsession was probably heavily influenced by the evil entity, which Fred Jones is also heavily influenced by. One would think that the entity would influence Fred Jones to encourage Freddy's love of traps.
> 
> The first reason why Fred Jones may be against traps may just be on principle. Both Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves are super into trapping, so he might not like that Freddy is taking off of them, despite not being raised by them.
> 
> The bigger reason I think may be because of his love for Freddy. Even if he doesn't realize why, Fred Jones subconsciously doesn't want Freddy to be under the evil entity's influence. So Fred Jones wouldn't want Freddy to pursue his interest in traps, because that is exactly what the entity wants, so it can use Freddy's trapping skills to its advantage. That's just my thought though.


	5. Chapter 5

Fred Jones thought he had found a new lead to follow. While he'd been searching through Darrow University's records, he found that quite a number of the books that talked about Crystal Cove's past and the rumored treasure had been loaned to the university from Burlington library. Fred Jones had found the name Oswald P. Burlington mentioned quite a number of times, but none of them said what a railroad baron had to do with Crystal Cove.

Fred Jones had no reason to think that Oswald P. Burlington had any connection to the treasure, but he didn't think it would hurt to check out the library for himself. Fred Jones didn't know how large the library was, or how long he may want to stay there, so he'd made arrangements for the worst case scenario.

Fred Jones had asked the Rogers family to keep an eye on Freddy during spring break. They hadn't been all that enthusiastic, but Freddy and the Rodger boy, Norville, had talked them down. The boys weren't exactly friends, they were just the kids at school who had a hard time playing with the others. To Fred Jones' knowledge, the boys didn't play together at school, but they'd both heard about the other kids having sleepovers, and they wanted to know what that was like. It didn't seem to matter to either Freddy or Norville that they barely knew each other, as far as they were concerned, they were best friends, at least during spring break.

Fred Jones had been looking forward to his trip to Burlington library. It had been a few years since he'd been able to really dive into his research. He was able to slip in a few hours here and there, but he couldn't exactly spend weeks on end on his research when he had a child whose needs he had to meet. Being a parent could be incredibly inconvenient at times.

Fred Jones had just gotten into his car when his phone rang. He was half tempted to not answer it. That temptation turned to solid dissolve when he saw that it was the school calling. Freddy's spring break may not have started yet, but Fred Jones' had. The Rogers had agreed to watch out for Freddy, he was their responsibility and problem now, at least for the week.

Although, if there was a real problem at school, at the very least he could tell them who they could call. Fred Jones reluctantly answered. "Hello?" He said tiredly.

"Mr. Jones, this is Charles Powers from the school," Charles said. Fred had heard Charles say this exact thing in this exact tone so often that he could say it right along with him.

"What did Freddy do this time?" Fred Jones asked.

"Nothing, sir," Charles said. "He's not in trouble, he's sick,"

Fred Jones frowned. "Sick?"

"He was sent to the nurse's office," Charles said.

"Is this because of his headache?" Fred Jones asked. This morning, Freddy had been a little slow and tired. Freddy said that his head hurt, but he insisted that he was fine enough to go to school. Fred Jones had assumed that Freddy had just stayed up too late reading his trap machines that the boy didn't think he knew about.

"He's got a stomach ache too," Charles said. "And a small fever,"

Fred Jones grimaced and leaned his head back. A fever was nothing, it was the stomach ache that he was worried about. The school wouldn't want anything that was the least bit contagious going around infecting all the kids, who would then spread it to the rest of the city. If Freddy just had a fever, Fred Jones might be able to convince the boy to just hold out for a few more hours, and then he could get some rest while staying with the Rogers.

"He needs to be picked up, doesn't he?" Fred Jones asked tightly.

" I'm 'fraid so, sir," Charles said.

"I'll be there soon," Fred Jones said. Charles said goodbye and hung up. Fred Jones put his phone aside and groaned. Why did Freddy have to get sick today of all days? Now he had to go pick him up. It might not be that long of a diversion, but every minute more that he was here was a minute that took away from his research.

When Fred Jones arrived at the school he went to the front office. Freddy was sitting on a chair, looking absolutely miserable. Fred Jones put a hand on Freddy's shoulder. The boy looked up at him.

"Hi, Dad," Freddy said. He sounded as happy to be sick as Fred Jones was about it.

"I hear you're having as good a day as I am," Fred Jones signed Freddy out of school. He grabbed his son's school backpack and the bag that had his things for his stay at the Rogers. "Let's get going. I have places to be," Freddy nodded and stood up. He followed Fred Jones out to the car. Freddy curled up in the front seat and rested his head against the window.

"I'm sorry," Freddy said quietly.

"It's not your fault," Fred Jones said. He grabbed his phone. "Maybe the Rogers would be willing to take you a few hours early." He dialed the number, and Mrs. Rogers was the one who answered.

"Paula, it's Fred Jones," He looked at Freddy, whose eyes were closed tightly. "Listen, it turns out that Freddy's not feeling very well. I had to pick him up from school. Can I just drop him off at your home?"

"He's ill?" Paula asked.

"It's nothing serious," Fred Jones assured her. "He'll probably feel better after a good night's rest,"

"You can't be asking me to bring a sick child into my home," Paula sniffed. "I can't expose Norville to that kind of thing,"

"It's just a cold," Fred Jones snapped. "You agreed to take care of Freddy weeks ago, you can't just change your mind now,"

"I can, and I am," Paula said sharply. "If your son is sick, it's probably best that he stays home with you, so you can take care of him, as you should," Before Fred Jones could come up with an annoyed response, Paula got in the last word. "Have a good day, Mr. Jones," She hung up.

"Oh, don't you lecture me about being a good parent," Fred Jones said loudly at the unconnected phone. "Everyone in Crystal Cove has heard about the time you 'accidentally' forgot Norville when you and your husband went on vacation. Not to mention all the missed school events that you're too busy to go to," Fred Jones knew that he wasn't the best father, but he didn't like anybody else implying it.

"Does this mean I'm not staying with Shaggy?" Freddy asked quietly.

"Afraid not," Fred Jones sighed. He expected Freddy to be disappointed, but the boy just looked tired. Fred Jones didn't think he had really processed this news yet. It seemed he really was sick.

As much as Fred Jones didn't like Paula telling him how to parent his child, he knew that now wasn't a good time for him to leave Freddy on his own for the week. Fred Jones wasn't about to give up on spending an entire week looking through the books at the Burlington library. There was only one thing he could do. "It looks like you'll be joining me on my little trip,"

Freddy sat up slightly. "Where are we going?" He asked.

"A library," Fred Jones said. "Visitors are free to stay there, so if things go well, we could be there all week,"

Freddy scrunched his nose in distaste. "Reading. That's not fun,"

"It's an old building, I'm sure you'll find something of interest there," Fred Jones said. He raised an eyebrow at his son. "You know, a lot of large, old buildings had all kinds of secret passages and trap doors. You can go exploring,"

"Traps," Freddy grinned to himself and rested his head against the window again. "Traps are great,"

"I thought that would catch your interest," Fred Jones said. He was partially annoyed and partially amused. He still didn't approve of Freddy's trap obsession, but the boy just seemed so excited by something so simple. And Fred Jones hoped that this interest could work to his advantage. If Freddy was busy exploring the library, Fred Jones would be left alone to his research. If he was lucky, he would barely know that Freddy was there at all.

Fred Jones glanced at Freddy. His son was curled up and trying to sleep on the front seat. He wondered if Freddy would be more comfortable sleeping in the back seat. He wasn't about to stop the car again so Freddy could switch seats though. "You packed your blanket and Mr. Trapples, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah," Freddy grabbed his bag and pulled out his bear and small blanket, which he was beginning to grow out of. Freddy put Mr. Trapples between him and the window, treating it as a pillow of sorts. He then curled up against his blanket.

Freddy never slept during car rides. The boy was really interested in seeing how the car worked. He asked about all of the buttons, switches, and pedals. Fred Jones was always more than happy to answer Freddy's questions, because if the boy was getting into cars, maybe he'd have a little less of an interest in traps.

If Freddy was sleeping now, then he was feeling worse than Fred Jones had thought. It was a long drive, so maybe the boy would sleep the entire way there. If he was still tired, Freddy could just sleep after they got settled into their room.

By the time they got to Burlington library, the weather had changed drastically from how it had been in Crystal Cove. At home, it was sunny and pleasant. At Burlington library, even though the sun hadn't set, it was dark with overcast clouds and the grounds were covered with snow. Fred Jones pulled up in front of the library and turned the car off. He shook Freddy awake.

"Come on, kiddo, we're here," Fred Jones said. Freddy blinked and sat up. He looked incredibly confused and a little lost. He stared out the window for a moment before he turned to look at his dad.

"Why's there snow?" Freddy rubbed his eyes and clutched tightly at Mr. Trapples.

"It's always like that here," Fred Jones said. He grabbed Freddy's bags and got out of the car. "It'll be warmer inside." He opened the backseat to get his own bags.

Freddy nodded tiredly and trudged behind his father, dragging his feet behind him. Freddy yawned and rubbed his eyes. The two of them entered the library. The caretaker, Dan Fluunk, was there to greet them. Freddy hid behind Fred Jones as the man talked to them. Fred Jones only have paid attention to the welcome himself. He'd talked to Dan Fluunk on the phone when he'd called and tried to learn more about the Burlington library. He'd heard the spiel already.

"If you could just show us to our room, that would be great," Fred Jones didn't bother hiding his impatience. He just wanted to get to work. Dan Fluunk looked unimpressed, but he plastered on a smile anyways and led them up the stairs. Once they were in their room, Freddy climbed onto the bed and laid down. Even though he'd just been sleeping, the boy seemed to want nothing more than to take a nap.

Fred Jones let his son rest. It would give him a chance to get started with his research. "Get some sleep. I'm going to look around the library," Freddy muttered a response. Fred Jones put their bags down, took out some notebooks and pens, in case he found some really useful information. Fred Jones left the room and made his way back downstairs and to the libraries. There were a lot of books, and he wasn't quite sure where to start. He was able to find a book that served as a kind of index of sorts for the area. Fred Jones wrote down the names of the books that sounded particularly promising.

When Fred Jones had a place to start, he closed the index and moved on to the next section of the library to do the same thing. He may be wasting time to write down potential sources of information instead of looking for them, but he was only here for a limited time. Fred Jones had to prioritize what information he wanted to look for first, and he couldn't properly manage his priorities if he didn't have all his possibilities in front of him.

Though Fred Jones wasn't doing any real research, his work was still incredibly time consuming. Going through the entire library took a few hours, but by the time he had finished, he was just getting started. Fred Jones sat at a table and began to rework his notes. He sorted the books into categories, which he then sorted into order of importance and potential. He probably spent a longer time organizing than was necessary, but he wanted to be thorough.

Fred Jones looked at his list and smirked. He was ready to really get started. Fred Jones stood up, leaving his notes at the table as he went to grab the first few books on his list. They were scattered across different sections, and it took him a bit to find and grab them all. Fred Jones was eager to begin.

Fred Jones hurried back to the table that he had claimed. He set the books down and was just about to begin his work when he heard an odd noise. His first thought was that it was the wind outside, but then he heard it again, and it certainly didn't sound like it was coming from outside. It sounded like it was coming from just down the hall.

Fred Jones reluctantly left his things behind, just for a few minutes. "Hello? Is someone over there?" As he got closer to the sound, he was better able to make out just what it was. It sounded like crying, the crying of a child. "Freddy, is that you?"

"D-daddy," That was definitely Freddy. Fred Jones quickly rounded the corner. He saw Freddy lying on the ground, curled up and shivering. The boy was looking up at him with unfocused eyes that were wet with tears. "Daddy,"

"French toast on a stick, Freddy," Fred Jones sighed as he approached the boy and knelt next to him. Freddy whined and crawled onto his lap. Fred Jones had been trying to get Freddy to not be so affectionate, as while people may think it was okay for a toddler or small child to cling to their parents, the older they got the less acceptable it was. However, he couldn't quite bring himself to push Freddy away. The boy clearly wasn't feeling well. Fred Jones thought he could humor him at least a little bit.

"What are you doing here?" Fred Jones asked. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I...I didn't know where you were, or where we are," Freddy whined. "You were gone."

"Of course I was gone," Fred Jones frowned. "I told you I was going to look around,"

"I don't remember," Freddy buried his head against Fred Jones' chest. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that Freddy was confused. The boy must be sicker than Fred Jones had thought. Freddy never called Fred Jones 'daddy' unless he was really scared or hurt.

Fred Jones pulled Freddy away from him just enough for him to take a good look at him. Freddy's eyes were half closed and his face looked a little red. His hair was matted against his hair with sweat. Fred Jones brushed his hair away from his face and felt at his forehead. There was definitely heat there, but the fever didn't feel too bad.

"You'll feel better after some sleep," Fred Jones assured his son. He stood up and lifted Freddy up. The boy was a little too big and heavy to really hold, but Fred Jones doubted he was in any state to walk around. Freddy leaned into his dad's hold. "What were you doing in the hall?" Fred Jones asked again. It couldn't have been comfortable.

"I was looking for you," Freddy said quietly. "But I got lost and I didn't know how to get back," While Burlington library was large, the layout wasn't all that confusing. Freddy had to be pretty confused to get lost in this place.

Fred Jones walked back to the room and laid Freddy on the bed. The boy curled up around Mr. Trapples. He looked pretty comfortable where he was, but Fred Jones had thought he'd looked set and asleep earlier, and yet the boy had woken up and wandered off. For all Fred Jones knew, Freddy might wake up so confused that he would wander outside and get lost in the snow. Fred Jones didn't want to deal with that.

"Five minutes," Fred Jones said to his son, who probably didn't understand him at all. "I'll be back in five minutes, just stay put for that long." Freddy just whimpered and curled up into a ball. Fred Jones figured that was as much of a response as he could expect to get.

Fred Jones left the room, this time pausing to lock the door behind him. Freddy would be able to unlock it from the inside, so the boy wasn't trapped, but this might keep him in one place for a little bit. Fred Jones made his way downstairs and back to his books. He gathered up his notes and books and headed back upstairs to the room. He didn't exactly want to study in their room, but it was a necessary compromise. If he stayed down here, he would be too distracted with concern for Freddy to focus on his research. If he just stayed in their room and kept an eye on Freddy, he would wish to be researching. This way, he would be able to do both.

Back in their room, Fred Jones put his things on the other bed. He sat down on the edge and spread everything out, opening all the books in front of him so he could cross reference them. Finally, after far too much time and annoying diversions, he was beginning his research. He didn't have a lot of time, and he intended to make the most of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to end up being a two-part chapter, because there's just so much stuff I wanted to do with Freddy getting really sick, and if I put it all into one chapter I would worry a lot about it getting too long and I might rush.


	6. Chapter 6

Fred Jones tried to stay awake and read up on Oswald P. Burlington, and the connection between him and Burlington library. He was able to get through the first few chapters and begin to take some really nice and probably useful notes, but then Freddy started tossing and turning in his sleep. Fred Jones tried to tone it out, but Freddy's distressed groans and whimpers were very distracting. He was still sleeping, just incredibly fitfully. It started to take Fred Jones nearly ten minutes to read just a single page and understand exactly what he was reading. The more he stared at the page, the heavier his eyes got and the easier it was for him to get distracted by Freddy. Clearly it wasn't working to stay awake.

Finally Fred Jones decided to give up for now and just get some sleep. If he slept now, he'd be able to stay awake and aware later. Fred Jones reluctantly put a bookmark in to save his spot as he made his way towards the other bed. He didn't feel completely exhausted, though his eyes were heavy he felt like he was going to sleep more for convenience, not because he needed to. The moment he laid down, he felt his fatigue catch up with him and he was asleep within minutes.

Fred Jones might have slept through the night, but he had always been a light sleeper. He was pulled out of his sleep when he heard Freddy's groans turn to violent coughs. Fred Jones sighed and rolled over to face his son. Freddy was clearly trying to keep himself from coughing, but this just made his cough worse.

"Freddy, Freddy, look at me," Fred Jones said sternly. "Sit up and just let it out," Though Freddy was still half asleep, he pushed himself upright. He let out another cough that was deeper and sounded wetter than before. Freddy quickly brought his hands to his mouth just as his cough became something else. Fred Jones was disgusted and alarmed to see some vomit slip through Freddy's fingers. None of it got on the bed, but that was because all of the throw up was all over Freddy.

"Haunting horrors, Freddy," Fred Jones shot out of his bed and hurried towards Freddy's. He grabbed his son and practically pulled him off the bed. He all but carried Freddy into the bathroom. As quick as he was moving, by the time Fred Jones got Freddy to the toilet, the boy was already done being sick, just leaving a big mess behind him.

Fred Jones grimaced, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He just had to clean up. "Hang on, we're going to get you cleaned up," Fred Jones turned on the shower. He helped Freddy rinse off his hands and mouth. Freddy didn't resist his help, but he didn't do a lot to help himself either. He just stood there, half asleep, as Fred Jones did all the work.

Fred Jones lifted Freddy into the tub to get the rest of him rinsed off. He didn't even bother getting Freddy's clothes off, because he didn't want to get the boy's sick all over everything. He would wash the clothes off properly later, but why take the time to rinse the boy and his clothes off separately when the shower could do it at once.

Fred Jones didn't go so far as to give Freddy a shower, as that wasn't necessary at this moment. He just needed to not be covered in his own vomit. In just a few minutes Fred Jones turned the shower off. He threw a towel at the boy.

"Can you handle getting out of those clothes, drying off, and getting into your pajamas?" Fred Jones asked.

Freddy nodded, but that wasn't good enough for Fred Jones. He'd thought that Freddy had given him a good response earlier, but then he'd completely forgotten where Fred Jones had said he was going, and he'd panicked a little. He needed a verbal response from Freddy, he needed to be sure that the boy understood him.

"No, Freddy, I need to know if you are fine with me leaving for a few minutes," Fred Jones said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Freddy mumbled. "I can do it,"

"I'll be back soon," Fred Jones said. He left the room, once again locking the door behind him, just to make sure the boy didn't run off again. Fred Jones was wearing his own pajamas, which he normally wouldn't dare to do in public, but he didn't have the time to change right now. Besides, he was just heading to the kitchen, he probably wouldn't run into very many people down there in the middle of the night.

Fred Jones was relieved that even the cook was absent from the kitchen. He didn't want to deal with anybody else. The first thing Fred Jones grabbed from the kitchen was a large bowl, just in case Freddy got sick again. He then found some ginger tea packets. He knew his son may not be too fond of it, but it would help him feel better. He then grabbed some bananas and crackers, as well as a few bottles of water. He knew that Freddy might not feel like eating, but he hadn't had anything to eat since the small breakfast he'd had before going to school. Whether he wanted it or not, Freddy needed some food in his stomach.

Fred Jones was glad that the library's small medicine cabinet was right next to the kitchen. He quickly grabbed some cold medicine and fever reducer, as well as some pain killer. Not all of it was necessarily made for children, but beggars couldn't be choosers. He would just make sure to give his son smaller doses.

When Fred Jones returned upstairs he found that Freddy had mostly done as he was told. He'd left his wet clothes on the floor with the towel. Freddy had managed to get his pajama pants on, but he seemed to have a hard time with his shirt. He'd just left it hanging on his shoulders as he curled up on the bed.

"Freddy, I need you to get up," Fred Jones nudged his son's arm. "You need to try to eat something." Freddy rubbed his eyes and sat up. He accepted the banana that Fred Jones held out to him and began to nibble on it. Fred Jones went to the kettle kept in the room and began to heat up some water.

Before the water had even begun to boil, Freddy was scrambling off the bed and back into the bathroom, leaving his half eaten banana behind him. Fred Jones let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his temple. This was going to be a long night. At least Freddy had made it to the toilet before getting sick again.

Fred Jones took one of the water bottles and joined Freddy, who had finished vomiting and was just trying to get the remains out of his mouth. "Here, this should help," The boy accepted the water and swished it around his mouth before spitting it all out. "I guess now's not the best time for food," Freddy shook his head. "Hopefully the tea will stay down better,"

Freddy grimaced and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, you have to," Fred Jones said. He returned to the bedroom and grabbed the heated kettle. He prepared two servings of ginger tea. "Drink half of that, and then you can go back to sleep." Though Freddy was still disgusted by the tea, he did what he was told. Fred Jones appreciated that his son was one of those kids who was willing to eat something that didn't taste so good if he was told that it was good for him.

While Freddy drank his tea, Fred Jones considered returning to his book. He may be able to get a few pages in really quickly. One glance at the pile of Freddy's dirty, wet clothes was enough to convince Fred Jones that he had more pressing matters at the moment. Those needed to get washed, and so did the covers of Freddy's bed, just in case.

Fred Jones reluctantly gathered the dirty laundry and left the room. While the library was enough like a hotel or inn that it had rooms with bathrooms and basic commodities attached, washing machines were not part of that. Fred Jones had to go back downstairs to the laundry room, which was located near the kitchen.

After getting the laundry started, Fred Jones returned upstairs to find Freddy curled up on the floor next to the bathroom. The boy had dragged all the pillows and blankets off of Fred Jones' bed and he was resting on them. Fred Jones crossed his arms.

"You know, the bed is probably more comfortable," Fred Jones said dryly.

"This is closer," Freddy looked up at him. "Just in case," That was what the bowl was for, but maybe Freddy's plan wasn't half bad. For one thing, with the boy claiming the bedding, Fred Jones wouldn't be tempted to get some rest for himself. Maybe just two or three hours wasn't enough sleep to go off of, but Fred Jones would figure out how to make it work. He intended to get through at least this first book before the end of the night.

Fred Jones returned to his desk where he found his still hot, but not quite boiling, tea waiting for him right next to his books. Freddy's tea was there as well, and though it wasn't quite half empty, it looked like the boy had gotten through a third of it, which was more than Fred Jones had expected.

Fred Jones watched Freddy for a moment, sure that the boy would quickly change his mind about sleeping on the floor, but the boy seemed perfectly content where he was. Fred Jones didn't think he'd ever understand the boy. Freddy just kept on finding new ways to confuse him.

Fred Jones watched Freddy for a bit before he forced his attention back to his books. He'd gotten some rest, he'd taken care of Freddy, but now he really needed to figure this mystery out. Fred Jones opened his books up again and began to read. It wasn't a perfect research session, but he was finally able to accomplish exactly what he had come here to do. Every few hours he was interupted a little bit when Freddy got up and retreated into the bathroom.

Fred Jones would pause for a moment and listen to his son, but when nothing seemed horribly wrong he would return back to his reading. Some of the books didn't provide nearly as much information as he'd hoped for, but Fred Jones was able to find some useful information about Oswald P. Burlington and his friends. It wasn't nearly as much information as he would hope for, but it was a start.

Fred Jones worked, read, and took notes frantically and without break until well after the sun rose. He only stopped because he'd gotten through the books he'd brought into the room. He had to return to the shelves. Of course, even if he still had things to read, he wouldn't be able to continue for much longer. It seemed that a night's rest was all that Freddy needed, because even though the boy had been sick all night, at morning's light the boy seemed to have his energy back.

"Dad, dad, look at the snow!" Freddy said excitedly as he tugged on Fred Jones' arm. "Look at it!"

"Yes, Freddy, I see it," Fred Jones said in exasperation. "You saw it last night,"

Freddy didn't seem to care. "It's so white!" He looked at Fred Jones with wide eyes. He looked far too energetic for someone who had been leaning over the toilet half an hour ago. "Is all snow like this?"

Fred Jones groaned and rubbed his eyes. Somehow, listening to the boy speak was making him feel more exhausted. He didn't have time to deal with his son. "Why don't you go outside and check it out for yourself?" He really couldn't blame Freddy for being excited. It never really snowed in Crystal Cove, as it was a coastal city, which were usually too warm to get snow. Freddy had never seen snow before. "You might be able to find a secret passage out there."

Freddy's eyes shown in excitement. "Yes!" The boy ran out of the room, barely pausing to slip his shoes on. Fred Jones sighed in relief. Finally, he had a moment alone. He could go downstairs and find some books on his new topic. He wasn't going to stop looking for information about Oswald P. Burlington, but his focus would now be on the library itself. He wanted to find exactly why it had been so important to Oswald P. Burlington that the library remain open at all times. Why would a man who didn't seem to care much about knowledge and education put so much energy into making sure that such an immense collection of information was made so available? And what was the connection between Burlington library and Darrow University?

Fred Jones practically ran downstairs. He could feel excitement building up in his chest. As frustrating as this research could be, he didn't think he would ever get tired of searching for information about the treasure.

Fred Jones quickly grabbed the books that he had written down earlier. He didn't normally like rushing his research, but he wanted to find as much information as he could, and from how this whole trip had turned out so far, there was no telling just how much he would get done before being interrupted again.

Fred Jones settled himself at a table near a roaring fire. It felt quite cozy, and for the first time since they'd arrived he felt like he'd finally found what he'd come here for. Comfortable, eager, and ready to read.

Fred Jones completely lost himself in his reading. It was like he entered a trance of sorts. He credited the fire. The warmth from the fire was incredibly soothing. It made him want to stay right where he was. Maybe this was why the library was in the middle of nowhere and constantly covered by snow. Knowing that there was a chill outside, there was nothing more that Fred Jones wanted to do than curl up by the fire with a good book. He could stay like this all day. Fred Jones thought that if he could convince Freddy to join him, the boy who claimed to hate reading would come to change his mind.

Fred Jones scowled slightly at himself. He'd barely been reading for half an hour and already his thoughts were returning to Freddy. No, he had to focus. He was determined to not think about his son. Out of sight, out of mind...except...the only reason why the fire felt so nice was because of how cold it was outside, which was where Freddy was.

Freddy, who, while he was feeling better than earlier, had to still be really weak. The boy had also gone outside in his pajamas, which weren't quite warm enough to withstand the cold, and the cotton would surely get wet. He wasn't even wearing a jacket, gloves, or a hat.

Fred Jones tried to push all these revelations out of his head, but he was barely able to push himself through a single paragraph before he was on his feet and running outside. That boy was going to be the death of him one of these days.

"Freddy?" Fred Jones looked around anxiously. He soon spotted the small footprints that Freddy had left behind. He was glad it wasn't snowing anymore, otherwise the footprints might be covered. Fred Jones followed the prints and he soon found his son on the ground next to the house. "Freddy!" He ran to the boy and picked him up. Freddy yelped in surprise.

"Dad?" Freddy squirmed in his grip.

"You're soaked," Fred Jones hurried back into the house. Freddy was so cold, he was shivering violently. His pajamas, which were so wet that it looked like the boy had jumped into a swimming pool, couldn't be helping. Fred Jones had to get the boy in something warm and dry. "Why didn't you come inside?"

"I wasn't cold," Freddy muttered as he leaned his head against him.

"Not cold?" Fred Jones said dubiously. He was starting to feel the chill himself, and he'd barely been out for a minute. Freddy had been out here for half an hour with no protection whatsoever, and he claimed to not feel cold at all? That didn't sound right. "Well, how _are_ you feeling?"

"Uh…" Freddy blinked and looked around. "Tired?" The boy sounded extremely uncertain about such a simple answer. "My head and tummy hurt."

"Does your stomach hurt like you're going to be sick, or like you're hungry?" Fred Jones asked. He honestly didn't know which one was more likely. Even if Freddy had felt fine just a short time ago, him pushing himself in the cold might have caused a relapse. On the other hand, all the boy had eaten in the last twenty four hours was half a banana. He had to be pretty hungry at this point.

"Hungry, I guess," Freddy said. "I don't want to eat though,"

"You'll have to get over that bit," Fred Jones said. If Freddy could keep his food down, then Fred Jones would make sure he ate at least something. He also definitely needed water, as he was probably incredibly dehydrated after last night.

Fred Jones carried Freddy to the fireplace that he'd been sitting at just a minute before. He considered taking the boy to their room, but Freddy was cold, and this already heated fire would warm him up a lot quicker than the unlit fireplace in their room would. Fred Jones pulled Freddy's shirt off and grabbed a throw blanket off a couch. He wrapped it around the boy's shoulders. He hoped his pants would dry off fairly quickly, because he didn't want to return upstairs again. Especially since Fred Jones didn't know for sure that the boy had packed an extra pair of pants outside of the ones he'd been wearing and his pajamas.

"Are you warm enough?" Fred Jones asked as he adjusted the blanket.

"I'm fine," Freddy frowned slightly. "I said I'm not cold." He shifted uncomfortably. "I'm kinda warm,"

"Warm?" Fred Jones brushed his hand against Freddy's forehead. He had thought that Freddy's red face had been because of the cold, but his skin was warm to the touch. His cold might not have returned, but it seemed like his fever might be coming back, worse than before. "And you said you were tired?"

"Really tired," Freddy mumbled. "It feels like my body doesn't want to move," Fred Jones barely kept himself from asking just why the boy had been running around outside if he was so tired, but Freddy probably wouldn't have a decent answer. He was young, and he was sick. He did foolish things even if he didn't understand why.

"I'll let you get some sleep in a few minutes," Fred Jones said. He pushed Freddy closer to the fire. "After you eat something," Freddy whined slightly in complaint, but Fred Jones wasn't going to sway on this. "Is there anything you think you could stomach?"

"Uh...cereal?" Freddy looked at him hopefully. Fred Jones didn't normally keep cereal in the house, at least not the kinds that kids would appreciate.

"We'll see," Fred Jones certainly wasn't going to be grabbing something that was more sugar than vitamins, but he thought they'd be able to find something in the kitchen for him. "Just stay by the fire, okay? Even if you are warm," Fred Jones left his son and returned to the kitchen to get things. This time he intended to make sure that Freddy actually took what he grabbed. It wouldn't do any good for him to grab some food and water if Freddy didn't have any of it.

Fred Jones quickly found some cereal, which he put into a bowl, but didn't cover in milk. If Freddy was so tired, he might eat a little slowly, and nobody liked soggy cereal. He could just nibble on his snack dry and take however long he liked. Fred Jones stopped for a long minute in front of the medicine cabinet, trying to decide whether or not to give the boy something to reduce his fever. It may be uncomfortable, but fevers served a purpose. It was the body's way of fighting off illness. Fred Jones saw the fever as a sign that he was getting over his cold, and he didn't want to undo that by treating the fever. After a long, internal debat, Fred Jones grabbed some medicine, telling himself that he would give some to Freddy if his level of discomfort got too strong.

Fred Jones returned to Freddy. He handed him the cereal and a water bottle. Though Freddy had claimed to not be hungry, he didn't hesitate to begin eating. Fred Jones groaned and sat on the chair close to the fire. He had only been up and about for a few minutes and yet he felt drained. Even when Freddy wasn't trying to cause any trouble, taking care of him was more time-consuming than a fulltime job.

Fred Jones pulled his feet onto the footrest and lounged back. He grabbed the book that he'd abandoned so quickly when he ran outside. Freddy watched him curiously for a moment before he stood up and climbed onto the chair with him.

"Wha-Freddy!" Fred Jones had no choice but to adjust himself and scoot over to make room for Freddy's demand for a spot on the chair. "What are you doing?"

"Wanted to see what you were reading," Freddy leaned against him and looked at the book.

"I thought you didn't like reading," Fred Jones said.

"I thought you wanted me to sleep," Freddy said, a mischievous little smirk on his face.

"Are you saying my book is so boring that it will make you tired?" Fred Jones raised an eyebrow at his son. Freddy giggled and snuggled close to him. Fred Jones shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't a big fan of physical affection like this. "If you really want to know what I'm reading, it's a history book,"

"Why do you like history so much?" Freddy asked.

"I wouldn't say I like it," Fred Jones said. "I'm just very passionate about history,"

"But why?" Freddy asked. "History's so boring."

"It can be, at times," Fred Jones said. "But there's a lot you can learn from the past. History is like one big mystery, just waiting to be untangled,"

"A mystery?" A small brightness came to Freddy's dull eyes. "What kind of mystery?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Fred Jones said. He looked at his son. "Do you want to help?" Freddy nodded eagerly and took a drink of water. "Alright, let's start from the beginning." While Fred Jones had been reading bits and pieces from five books at once, taking notes as he went, he could change methods this once. Freddy sitting on him made it difficult to switch books, even more difficult to take notes. Reading just from the book may not be as efficient, but it was better than nothing.

Fred Jones read out loud, folding down the corner of pages that caught his interest so he could come back to it later. Freddy asked the occasional question, he seemed to be trying pretty hard to pay attention and show interest, but he began to doze off. It wasn't too long before Freddy was fast asleep, leaving half a bowl of cereal and an empty water bottle on his lap. Fred Jones continued reading out loud, in case Freddy had a fitful sleep again.

For reasons that Fred Jones had never understood, Freddy had always found his voice and hold comforting. Even back when Freddy had been a little baby who had been stolen from his birth father, the boy had been easily comforted by him.

Fred Jones read for two hours, with Freddy sleeping curled up against him. Freddy slept soundly for a bit, but then he started to squirm and whimper a bit. Fred Jones reluctantly pulled himself out of his reading and rubbed Freddy's back. For some reason, Freddy's whining got worse and he pulled away from his touch. Fred Jones frowned. This was the first time this had happened.

"Hey, Freddy," Fred Jones frowned. He felt the boy's forehead again. It was noticeably warmer than before. "Come on, Freddy, you're okay,"

"Ehn…" Freddy's eyes opened slightly. "Dad?" The boy blinked blurrily at him, his eyes full of tears. Freddy shuddered and buried his face in his dad's chest. "Dad," The boy began to cry.

"What? What's wrong?" Fred Jones asked. "Did you have a nightmare?" Freddy nodded.

"The monster was back," Freddy shivered. "It dragged me underground. It wouldn't let me go, and I don't know what it wanted."

"The monster?" Fred Jones froze. The boy had to be talking about the Freak of Crystal Cove, the same monster that had once haunted Fred Jones' nightmares. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to read to Freddy about the history of Crystal Cove. Whatever drove Fred Jones to look for this treasure, the spark that lit the obsessive fire, it was haunting Freddy and bothering him a lot.

"It stole me from my home," Freddy sobbed. He clung to Fred Jones like his life depended on it. "It wouldn't let me go. Don't let the monster take me, daddy!"

"I…" Fred Jones swallowed thickly and closed the book. He put it on the floor and pulled Freddy close, partially to comfort him and partially to hide his guilty expression. "No one's going to take you from me, Freddy," The boy breathed a sigh of relief, which just made Fred Jones feel a little worse. Freddy's dream about the Freak of Crystal Cove kidnapping him, it hit just a little too close to home to just be any old dream.

"If this sickness of yours lasts for much longer, I don't think it would be smart to stay here." Fred Jones said quietly.

"Are we going home?" Freddy asked.

"Probably," Fred Jones said.

"Sorry," Freddy muttered. "Your work-"

"-Can be done anywhere," Fred Jones looked at the books that he'd been meaning to look over. He was probably going to regret this, but at the moment he was certain he was doing what was right, not just for his son, but for his research as well. Freddy could take the whole week to fully recover, and if today and yesterday were good indications, Fred Jones wouldn't be able to focus fully on reading and looking after his son. Trying to do both at once just wouldn't work here and now.

Freddy had to be his priority, because Fred Jones knew if he didn't take care of him, he wouldn't get better anytime soon, and neither of them would have a very good time with it. Besides, the library wasn't going anywhere. Fred Jones would just have to return here sometime, possibly during the summer when he would have more time to spare, and hopefully Freddy wouldn't be sick and could actually stay with someone else.

Fred Jones gathered Freddy into his arms and stood up. They hadn't even been here for a full day, and already they were packing up and leaving. Not exactly what Fred Jones would call a successful research session. It was probably one his shortest lived obsession with research, which was a shame, after all the trouble he'd put into planning it. What was especially annoying was that Fred Jones knew that he would be itching to find information again in just a few weeks, and he would really be regretting his decision to leave.

Oh well. That was a problem for another day. For today, Fred Jones was surprised to find that he was mostly just concerned about getting his son home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so weird. The whole reason why I started writing this story was to show Fred Jones' softer side, the part of him that cares about his son, and yet I somehow feel like this chapter has him a little too soft...even though in the middle of it he allows his sick son to go wandering around in the snow wearing absolutely nothing that would keep him warm.
> 
> I was planning on having them stay at Burlington library for a few days, but then I got to writing and all of a sudden I'm at the end and they've only been there for not even a day. I guess that would explain why Freddy wasn't familiar with Burlington library in the show...that, and he was really sick while they were there.


	7. Chapter 7

By the time Freddy was thirteen years old, Fred Jones had gone through nearly all the books he had access to. He'd spent a couple of weekends at the Burlington Library, but during his most recent visit he'd had an extremely vivid vision of sorts of Freddy, who had stayed home that time, moving around as the Freak of Crystal Cove, talking obsessively about the pieces of the planispheric disk. Fred Jones knew that he was looking for the pieces himself, but seeing Freddy like that had been extremely unnerving and almost disturbing. Fred Jones had been so shaken by what he had seen that when he'd heard that there were dozens of other people who had been having inexplicable visions and vivid dreams at the library, he'd decided to never return there.

He'd been able to find some information about Oswald P. Burlington and his group of friends, but he couldn't care less about those people. Fred Jones had thought that they were connected to the treasure, but after his research at Burlington library he thought that the connection was just that Oswald P. Burlington had also been interested in finding the treasure.

Fred Jones knew that he might be able to find some clues that Oswald P. Burlington and his friends had discovered, but he wasn't holding his breath. Fred Jones knew that while he took notes on anything he might find, he would never make his personal notes available to the public. That was just asking for somebody to snatch the treasure away from him. If Oswald P. Burlington had found clues that Fred Jones hadn't, they wouldn't be found in the library.

Fred Jones was sure that Crystal Cove had actually been built on top of the treasure, rather than the treasure being buried under the city. Fred Jones knew that his closest bet would be to look for as much information as he could about the city's past, which was surprisingly difficult to find. Fred Jones had searched in as many libraries and databases as he could, but he was running out of resources. One of the few places that he had left to search was the town archives, which were available to very few people.

Fred Jones considered his options carefully. Becoming a lawyer would take too much time, and would involve way too much searching into his own personal life. He didn't want to risk it being discovered that Freddy wasn't his biological son, not now, after all the effort he'd put into this. Fred Jones seriously considered becoming a teacher at the high school or Darrow University, but once again he would have to deal with background checks, as well as actually take time into planning and teaching lessons, and he didn't know if he could handle dividing his attention three ways, between his son, looking for the treasure, and being a teacher.

Fred Jones had eventually come to the decision to run for mayor. In any other town, he would still have to worry about background checks, but Crystal Cove had a history of dubious mayors, with at least one of them being suspected of being a thief. The people of Crystal Cove never learned. They were very easy going. They would listen to anybody who was charismatic enough, and while Fred Jones usually kept to himself, he knew how to please people when he needed to.

When Fred Jones had first decided to run for mayor, he hadn't truly thought that he would get it. He was just taking a chance because he had nothing to lose from trying. He seemed to be doing fairly well though, better than he expected, and he was starting to think that he actually had a chance at this.

Fred Jones focused most of his campaigning focus on the schools, both those who taught there, and those who learned there. Even if kids weren't able to vote, they were more than capable of talking to their parents, which was what Fred Jones was counting on. Thanks to Freddy, he was also very familiar with the people who worked in the schools. They somehow saw him as a hardworking, single father who cared deeply about the well-being and education of his son. Fred Jones didn't know how he'd managed to get that image across, but he wasn't going to fight it. Voters loved caring parents.

Of course, with the image that Fred Jones was trying to get across, he had to spend even more time going to Freddy's school events, at least for now. One of those events was an open house for the middle school that Freddy was about to go into. The school thought that they would give the students the chance to familiarize themselves with the layout of the school, as well as allow the parents to get to know their children's new teachers.

Fred Jones had spoken to a lot of parents about Freddy, but those conversations had all been led by the teacher. He wasn't used to having to warn a teacher about potential issues they may face with Freddy. He didn't want to be called in the middle of the day because the teacher thought that Freddy was being too disrespectful when really the boy was just bluntly curious sometimes, and that wasn't going to change.

Fred Jones had just finished speaking to Freddy's new history teacher when Karey Smith the school counselor from the elementary school, there for the evening to help ease the kids into their new school, ran into the room looking strangely frazzled.

"Mr. Jones, there's, uh, a bit of an issue in the gym," Karey said. The gym, where they'd set up small games and such for the kids who finished looking around before their parents did.

"Freddy?" Fred Jones said. Karey nodded, and that was all he needed to hear. He turned back to the history teacher. "Please, excuse me,"

"We could use your help too," Karey said to the teacher. "We need to distract the rest of the students." Distract them from _what?_ They'd only been here for an hour. What kind of trouble could Freddy have gotten himself into in such a short time?

Fred Jones and the teacher followed Karey to the gym. There were a lot more students in the hall than there had been all night. As the history teacher, as well as a few other adults, got to work to herd the students into the cafeteria where there were refreshments that would hopefully distract them, Fred Jones heard some mutters from them.

He couldn't understand everything that the students said, but he was able to catch one quiet sentence. "A girl was trapped."

_Traps._ Freddy, what in the world did you do?

Fred Jones picked up his pace and soon arrived at the gym. It was nearly empty. The only people in the gym were a few teachers, the middle school principal, Freddy, and a girl that was a year or so younger than Freddy.

Freddy was curled up on the ground with his hands over his ears. Hanging ten feet above him was a girl with bright red hair, tangled up in a volleyball net. One of the girl's feet was caught up in the rope above her, putting her in a very awkward and, if the redness of her ankle was anything to go by, painful position.

"Mr. Jones," The principal looked relieved to see him. "Perhaps you can help us,"

"What happened?" Fred Jones asked, though he already had a pretty good guess. When Freddy got bored, he set up traps. So far, Freddy's only victims were himself, occasionally Fred Jones, but mostly Mr. Traples. Fred Jones should have expected that sooner than later an innocent bystander would be caught up in the complicated, but still juvenile traps.

"We don't know," Kacey said breathlessly. "He seemed just fine, working by himself in the corner, but all of a sudden Daphne was screaming and in the air, and Freddy just shut down,"

Daphne must be the little girl. At least she wasn't screaming anymore. "What do you mean he shut down?" Fred Jones asked. Looking at Freddy, he could see it. The boy wasn't moving at all.

"He's completely unresponsive," The principal said. "He won't even react to his name," Fred Jones frowned. Freddy had his moments when he got overwhelmed and tried to block everything out, but Fred Jones had never seen it get so bad that he didn't respond at all.

The teachers were trying to figure out how to get Daphne down, but Fred Jones paid them no mind. Freddy's traps may have been simple when he was little, but he was far from that way now. Fred Jones had tried to deactivate Freddy's traps before, and he'd never succeeded. The only person he knew that could deactivate the traps was Freddy. While the teachers talked, Fred Jones focused on knocking Freddy out of whatever was bothering him.

"Hey, kiddo," Fred Jones knelt next to Freddy. The boy didn't even twitch in response. "You've really caused some trouble this time, haven't you?"

"Are you Freddy's dad?" Daphne said calmly. For someone who was hanging ten feet in the air, she was taking this whole thing extremely well.

"Yes, I am," Fred Jones said. "Are you alright up there?"

"I'm okay," Daphne shifted slightly. "What's wrong with Freddy?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Fred Jones turned his attention back to his son. "Freddy...Freddy!" No answer. Freddy was completely still. If Fred Jones didn't know any better, he would think that Freddy was fast asleep. It wouldn't be the first time that Freddy had fallen asleep in impossible positions.

Fred Jones moved until he was positioned just in front of Freddy. He gently but firmly grabbed Freddy's hands and pulled them away from his head. Fred Jones bent his own head to try to look Freddy in the eyes, but the boy's eyes were shut tightly. "Freddy, you can't do this now." Freddy could shut himself out from the rest of the world when they were safe at home, but not when there was a child hanging in the air above them. "I need you to snap out of it and focus,"

"Ngh…" Freddy made a distressed noise in the back of his throat. His hands shook slightly in Fred Jones'. "C-c'n't." Only years of raising Freddy allowed Fred Jones to understand the muttered response.

"Can't what?" Fred Jones asked sternly. He needed to know what was going on in Freddy's head.

The doors were thrown open and a furious looking couple stormed in. For a wild moment Fred Jones felt like he was looking at Brad and Judy, but then he realized that it was Barty and Nan Blake. With how much Daphne resembled Nan, Fred Jones felt like he should have known he was dealing with a Blake girl. He cursed his luck. Of all the children in the school that Freddy had to get tangled up in a trap, why did it have to be a Blake?

"What is going on here?" Barty demanded. He glared at everybody in the room before his gaze landed on Fred Jones and Freddy. "Jones, I should have known that your little menace was involved,"

"He's not a menace," Fred Jones said. He subconsciously tightened his grip around Freddy's hands and pulled the boy closer to him. He may think that Freddy was a handful, but he was far from a menace.

"Daphne, baby, are you okay?" Nan looked up at her daughter desperately.

"I'm fine, Mom," Daphne said casually as she subtly moved her hands to hide her possibly twisted ankle. "I'm just worried about Freddy,"

"The Jones boy?" Barty frowned. "I thought he was the reason why you were up there,"

"Well, he is," Daphne admitted. "But…" Her parents stopped listening.

"Well, why are you just standing there?" Nan asked the teachers who were just watching them cautiously. There was a fire burning in her eyes that said that she wasn't afraid to get them all fired for this. "Get my girl down,"

"We're trying, Mrs. Blake," The principal said.

"Everybody, be quiet for five minutes," Fred Jones said sharply. He tuned out everything that was being said. He couldn't worry about what the teachers or Blakes were saying. He needed to reach Freddy. "Freddy, can you hear me?" No response. "Freddy, can you just nod for me?"

Freddy was still for a few long moments before he gave a miniscule nod. Fred Jones relaxed a little bit. It seemed like Fred could at least hear and understand him. "Okay, I need you to come back and focus. You need to get that poor girl down." Freddy stiffened ever so slightly. He mumbled something so incoherently that Fred Jones didn't hear him even though he was right in front of him. "Speak up,"

"I...I didn't mean to," Freddy muttered. "I didn' try to hurt her,"

Fred Jones nodded in understanding. Freddy could get overwhelmed and have a difficult time functioning. Sometimes it seemed like Freddy's mind just shut down, almost as a way to protect him from information that he couldn't understand. This was the worst that Freddy had even been though. He was a kind and gentle boy, so Fred Jones understood why Freddy would try to shut out the fact that he had hurt someone with his traps. Fred Jones understood it, but he certainly wasn't going to accept it. If something went wrong, you fixed it, you didn't just roll over and wait for someone to make things right.

"Freddy, look at me," Fred Jones said. Freddy shook his head, but Fred Jones wasn't going to deal with his nonsense. "Now,"

Freddy bit his lip slightly and opened his eyes. He looked at Fred Jones with tearfilled eyes. He was devastated. "Freddy, I know you didn't try to hurt Daphne," Fred Jones said. "But you can help her, you just have to concentrate and get it done."

Freddy took a deep breath and nodded. He pulled himself up and moved with shaky legs to the other end of the room. Freddy's eyes were glazed over and he seemed to be moving on autopilot, but at least he was moving. Fred Jones followed Freddy to the ropes and leavers that he'd somehow gotten his hands on to set up his trap.

Fred Jones watched as Freddy worked. In just a minute, Daphne's net was slowly lowered to the ground. The very moment that Freddy saw that Daphne was okay, he hunched in on himself and clutched tightly at the ascot that Fred Jones had insisted he wear instead of his little scarf.

"Oh, Daphne," Nan Blake hugged her daughter protectively. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mom," Daphne insisted. She was favoring her hurt foot slightly, but not as much as Fred Jones had expected. That girl didn't want her parents to know she was as hurt as she was.

"You had better hope she's okay," Barty Blake said darkly, glaring at the principal. Fred Jones put an arm around Freddy's shoulder and pulled his boy towards the middle of the gym floor. Barty looked at Freddy, and Fred Jones really didn't like the look in his eyes. He was actually glad that Freddy was keeping his gaze at the floor, because Fred Jones didn't want Freddy to be aware of how that man was looking at him.

"I don't know what's wrong with that boy of yours, Jones," Barty said. "But if I find him anywhere near my daughter again-"

"Are you threatening my son?" Fred Jones interrupted before Barty could even finish his sentence.

"I'm protecting my daughter," Barty said. He put a hand on Daphne's shoulder and began to pull her towards the door. Before Daphne was pulled away she looked back towards Freddy and gave him a small smile and a wave.

"See you later, Freddy," Daphne said. Freddy didn't even look up at her, but she didn't seem to mind. Daphne just grinned and followed her parents out of the gym, listening to them complain angrily to each other as they left.

Fred Jones sighed and adjusted his glasses. "As eventful as this evening has been, if there's nothing else, I'll be taking Freddy home now,"

"Uh, Mr. Jones," The principal looked nervous. "Is this sort of behavior normal for Freddy?"

Freddy frowned and pulled back behind his dad. Fred Jones gave the principal a stern look. "I wouldn't say that it's normal," Today was definitely one of the worse ones. "But things like this do happen, as I'm sure I've told you," That was why he had come here to talk to the teachers in the first place, so they might know what to expect. "I'm sure we'll see more of each other in the future," Fred Jones fully expected Freddy to have a difficult time adjusting to middle school.

Fred Jones pulled Freddy out before anybody could say something else to upset him more. Freddy followed him quietly. When they got out to the car, Freddy climbed into the front seat and seemed to lose all of his energy. He curled up on the seat and drew his legs tightly up to his chest.

Fred Jones got into the car and looked at Freddy. The boy seemed to be closing himself up as much as he had before. Fred Jones expected that the boy was going to shut down completely as soon as he could, and he wasn't going to give Freddy the chance.

"What happened tonight?" Fred Jones asked as he started the car. "You've never lost it like this before,"

"I don't know," Freddy muttered into his knees. "I don't...Dad, I don't know what's wrong with me,"

Fred Jones stiffened and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Something about Freddy's tone made it seem like he was saying 'wrong' in the same way that Barty Blake had. Freddy wasn't frustrated with himself because he didn't understand exactly how he was feeling, he was frustrated because his mind worked a little differently than others' did.

"Nothing's wrong with you," Fred Jones said sternly. He looked at Freddy. "You're different, but that's not a bad thing,"

"How is it not a bad thing to hurt someone?" Freddy asked desperately. A part of Fred Jones was relieved that Freddy's head was still buried in his legs, because he could tell by his voice that the boy was crying, and he had never been able to figure out just how to handle the boy's tears. As the boy got older, the more awkward he felt about it. Fred Jones knew it was normal for children to be rather emotional, but he had thought that Freddy would grow out of it by now.

"Everybody hurts people," Fred Jones said. It was just part of being human. Sooner or later, you were going to hurt someone you cared about, and you were going to be hurt by them in return. "What's important is that you don't do it on purpose, and you make things right." Fred Jones tried not to think about how he had gone out of his way to hurt people to accomplish his own goals.

Freddy didn't need to know that though. This was just one of those instances where Fred Jones wanted to teach his son to do as he said, and not as he did. Teaching by example was good in theory, but Fred Jones didn't want to think about how horrible a person Freddy would be if he only learned by looking at what Fred Jones did .

Freddy didn't seem entirely convinced, but he didn't argue. Fred Jones hoped that this phase of Freddy thinking there was something wrong with him didn't last. If this went on for too long, or if the teachers at his new school also believed that Freddy had some issues that needed to be addressed, Fred Jones might have little choice but to find some professional help.

Fred Jones had been raising Freddy for thirteen years. He had read enough books and had enough experience to make the educated guess that Freddy had a developmental disorder of some sort. Fred Jones knew this, but he didn't want to take his son to get a diagnosis or treatment. Fred Jones knew that it might help Freddy, to know exactly how his mind worked and why, but Fred Jones would rather be kept in the dark.

Fred Jones wasn't an expert on mental or developmental issues, but he knew enough to know that they could be two causes. It was the classic nature vs. nurture. If Freddy's mind worked a little differently than other kids, it could be because of biological reasons, so he'd been born that way and nothing could have been done to prevent it. Or it could be the result of how Freddy was raised.

Freddy would probably struggle with these issues for the rest of his life, things would probably only get worse as he got older, and all of this could have either been because Freddy was biologically Brad and Judy's child, or because Fred Jones had done such a horrible job at raising his son that he'd completely screwed him up in an irreparable way. Fred Jones didn't know which option he preferred, so he would rather not know the truth at all.

Besides, if it was a biological issue that was serious enough, there might be people who would want to take a closer look at Freddy's DNA, to know exactly what was going on with him, and then it would likely be discovered that Freddy wasn't his real son. It would raise a number of questions that Fred Jones just didn't want to deal with. To be safe, Fred Jones thought that the best thing to do was to just deal with things himself. He had gone this long without getting an official diagnosis, they could handle figuring things out as they went.

It wasn't a perfect strategy, but Fred Jones thought it was better than involving a couple dozen people in the process of raising Freddy. He wasn't the perfect dad, but he didn't want others input, not on this. He could take care of his slightly neurotic son on his own.

They should probably set up some guidelines and rules for Freddy's traps though. They were fine at home, but they weren't the kind of thing that should be brought to the school when there were so many students and other unpredictable elements. If Freddy was going to insist on making elaborate traps, Fred Jones would see to it that he only did so in a safe, controlled environment.

They had gotten lucky with Daphne Blake. If the girl hadn't been so determined to hide the fact that she was hurt, her parents might have gone on a rampage. They didn't need to risk other parents getting protective and upset. Freddy was going to have a hard enough time adjusting to school. They didn't need to make things even worse by forcing Freddy to deal with parents who acted like they were nearly as neurotic as he was.

Fred Jones thought he should probably spend some additional time with his son to make sure he adjusted okay. Maybe Freddy would be more willing to conform and behave himself at school if he felt like home was a safe place to really let go.

Of course, he would have to work that around his campaign and research for the treasure. Fred Jones already had so little free time on his hands, and now he was willingly going to throw it out the window. Oh well, it wasn't parenting if he wasn't making some personal sacrifices and compromises. Besides, Fred Jones knew that working with Freddy now would probably spare them both some more moments like they'd had today. Fred Jones didn't know exactly what had happened with Freddy, but he certainly didn't want to deal with a repeat performance. He could spare some extra time with his son if it kept him calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I head canon that Freddy is autistic, I also believe that Fred Jones would specifically not get him diagnosed. I'm not sure why, but it just doesn't seem like something he would do, at least in the original universe. In the alternate world that the gang ends up in at the end of the show however, I do think that that version of Fred Jones would actually be the one to insist that Freddy get some proper treatment.
> 
> I love exploring Fred Jones and Freddy's relationship so much that when I'm done writing this story (don't worry, I'm nowhere near done with it) I'm thinking of writing kinda a tie in story about Fred Jones' relationship with Freddy in the alternate universe. He was clearly more than just a teacher/coach for Freddy, considering how he still sees Freddy as his son of sorts, and that would be interesting to look into. Not to mention it would give me more opportunities to have Fred Jones show displeasure towards how Brad and Judy treat Freddy. Yeah, we didn't get to see a lot of Brad and Judy in the alternate world, but what little we did get gives me reason to think that they were still not the best of parents.


	8. Chapter 8

Being mayor was a lot different than how Fred Jones had expected it to be. It wasn't exactly a bad different, in fact, Fred Jones quite enjoyed it, there was just a matter of getting used to it. There was lots of going out and keeping people happy, and tons of paperwork that he probably wouldn't have the patience for if it weren't for all his years of history research, and searching for the pieces of the planispheric disk. He had gotten used to sitting around and reading through ridiculously complicated documents.

The whole reason why Fred Jones had run for mayor in the first place was so he could have access to all the town's archives, and he did look through them, when he had the time. However, Fred Jones quickly found out that Crystal Cove had a bit of a financial issue, which limited the amount of resources that the town, and thus, he, had access to. The town needed something to boost up the economy.

The Dinkley's small museum dedicated to the haunted and supernatural was his solution. He was familiar with the Dinkleys and the way they worked, and they certainly seemed to like him decently enough. Fred Jones also knew that while the museum wasn't exactly the most popular destination among the locals, what few tourists they got, most of them were drawn in because of the museum. Apparently, the museum had a bit of a cult following online.

The museum had gotten to the status of being a desired destination for people who were interested in that kind of thing. Now the key was to make it so big that it attracted people who weren't normally into the occult and unnatural. Fred Jones knew that to make Crystal Cove an ideal location, he either had to get rid of the haunted reputation that Crystal Cove had, or lean into it.

Fred Jones did everything he could to promote the museum and bring other people of the town into this supernatural business as well. He wanted the whole town involved, not just one family. Fred Jones thought that he would be met with more resistance, but the town was full of superstitious people who believed there were monsters under their bed. Apparently the people of Crystal Cove would much rather honor the monsters than be afraid of them. By the time Fred Jones was done with his first year as mayor, their tourist number had nearly doubled, the museum had expanded and now included city-wide tours, and they had a couple of gift shops opened. Things were moving right along.

Of course, as ghosts and ghouls became more popular around the city, the more sightings there were. Fred Jones had counted on this. People were inspired by what was around them. If someone wanted attention, they could claim they had seen a ghost, because they knew that it was what people would listen to. If someone wanted to avoid attention, they just had to put on a mask and make people think that their activities were just another monster haunting the city. As more people took advantage of these stories, the more popular these stories became, which would cause even more people to be inspired. It was all one big, beautiful cycle.

Fred Jones encouraged all of this superstition. It improved the town's economy, and allowed him a little wiggle room when it came to the Freak of Crystal Cove and the treasure. If anybody in town stumbled on information about the curse, they would have no reason to believe that it was any different from any of the other stories around town.

A year into this endeavor though, a new monster came along that made Fred Jones reconsider how he went about doing this whole business. He could tolerate people dressing up as monsters to do a burglary, cause some property damage, or scare a few individuals, because the revenue they brought in more than made up for the cost. Terrorizing the whole city was taking things a smidgen too far, and targeting children was certainly not okay.

Fred Jones usually allowed the monsters to do their own thing, at least for a few days, just long enough to really get people talking. This time though, Fred Jones wasn't going to rest until this monster was stopped, unmasked, and put behind bars. He didn't sleep that night. He just continued working, pushing the police force to find this criminal. Fred Jones' determination attracted unwanted attention from the local reporters, who were desperate to talk to him, like they had nothing better to do.

"Mr. Mayor," A middle aged man that Fred Jones recognized from the papers met him as he was heading from his car to his office. "Is there any word about the missing children?"

"If there was, you would have heard about it," Fred Jones said impatiently. He walked past the man, determined to ignore him, but the reporter just followed him. "We're doing all we can to bring all the children home safely,"

"Including your son?" The reporter asked, a probing tone in his voice.

Fred Jones didn't falter in his walking, but he stiffened and glared ahead. "Of course," He had to try really hard to not allow his frustration or fear to be heard. As mayor, every little thing he did was noticed by the people. He had to remain in control. "When I say all the children, I mean all of them, not just, but certainly including, my son," He was almost to the door. Just a few more steps and he could get away from this annoying man.

"Have you heard anything from the monster itself?" The reporter asked quickly. He seemed to know just as well as Fred Jones did that his time was limited. "People have been calling it the-"

"No," Fred Jones stopped just in front of the door. He turned to look coldly at the reporter. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear," The reporter eagerly took his notepad and pen, ready to take notes. Fred Jones actually hoped that this man printed this in the paper, because he wanted the whole town to know. "We are not naming this monster. We are not going to be selling merchandise or glamorizing its story or activities. We are going to catch this monster, and then let it fall into obscurity." Fred Jones opened the door and stepped inside. The reporter caught the door before he could close it.

"You always insist that we monetize these monsters. What makes this one so different?" The reporter asked. Fred Jones had an answer ready, as it was one that he'd been asked a dozen times in the past day.

"It went after the children of Crystal Cove," Fred Jones said.

"Would you be this involved in the investigation if your son wasn't one of the children who were taken?" The reporter asked. "And what do you say about the eye witness reports that said that the children who are missing went looking for the monster."

"I say that it doesn't matter what the kids did," Fred Jones said stiffly. "They didn't deserve this." Fred Jones just barely kept himself from shoving the man out of the building. He just turned and walked towards his office, trusting security to do their job and take care of the reporter. Once Fred Jones was in his office he locked the door and slumped at his desk.

Being mayor was hard, as he had so many people looking to him to lead them. Being a father sometimes felt impossible, as he had an entire kid that he had to keep safe. Doing both at the same time was draining. Fred Jones wanted nothing more than to go home, lounge by the fire, and forget that this whole day had even happened, but he couldn't. He had work to do. He couldn't stop. Not until he found Freddy.

Fred Jones didn't even know what had happened. There was just supposed to be a simple field trip for the kids in Freddy's grade, the kids who would be going into high school next year. Fred Jones didn't know why it was necessary for fourteen and fifteen year olds to have a career day already, but Freddy was excited, and Fred Jones was always hopeful that as long as his son had something to do, he wouldn't get bored and cause trouble.

Fred Jones had gotten about an hour's worth of work done before he'd gotten the call that a new monster was targeting the museum itself. Fred Jones had just gathered his publicity people together to find out more about this monster when he'd gotten a panicked call from Angie. Apparently her daughter, Velma, had wandered off in the middle of the tour, dragging Freddy and a half a dozen other children behind her. Angie had barely noticed the kids were missing before the monster had shown up again, with the children in tow. They then all disappeared. There were no demands, no warning, the monster just left with the children.

They didn't have any clues or leads, but Fred Jones wasn't going to let that stop him from finding his son, and the other children of Crystal Cove.

Fred Jones was at his wits ends. It was evening now, almost night. Freddy had been missing for nearly eight hours, and Fred Jones didn't know what else he could do. He was so frustrated that when he heard his phone ring, he was tempted to not answer it at all. It might be something important though, so Fred Jones reluctantly answered. He didn't even have time to ask who it was or what they wanted before he heard a familiar voice that was far too loud and fast for the telephone.

"Dad!" Freddy exclaimed. Fred Jones was taken aback, and it took him a long moment to recover.

"F-freddy," Eight hours worth of exhaustion caught up with him. "Shallow sea waters, where are you?!"

"Uh, at the gas station outside of town," Freddy said.

Fred Jones felt all his concern boil into anger. "Did you kids just wander off? Do you have any idea how worried everybody is?"

"We didn't try to," Freddy said desperately. "We weren't always at the gas station, it's just where we are now. It was the only place we could think to go after getting away from the weird monster,"

Fred Jones relaxed ever so slightly. He was surprisingly relieved to hear that Freddy had, indeed, been taken by the monster. At least he hadn't been worrying all day for nothing. His concern had been legitimate. "Where is the monster now?"

"Uh," Freddy sounded somewhat nervous, which just made Fred Jones feel nervous as well. "Please don't get mad. I know you told me not to trap other people, but I didn't know what else to do,"

Fred Jones sighed. Just when he thought he'd gotten Freddy into something other than traps, the boy came back with his obsession even stronger than ever. He supposed he shouldn't be so annoyed this time, if Freddy's trap was what had gotten him and the other kids out of danger.

"We'll talk about your trapping later," Fred Jones said. He wanted to know just what the trap did and how effective it was at trapping the monster. That could wait until they were at home though. For now, he needed to make sure all the kids were safe.

"Are all of you kids safe and accounted for?" Fred Jones asked.

"Yep, we're all here," Fred Jones said. "We're just a little far from town to walk home."

"I'll arrange a ride to pick you up," Fred Jones said. "Just stay where you are,"

"We can do that," Freddy said. "I used the credit card you gave me for my birthday last year to get some snacks and order a few pizzas. No one is going to walk away from food,"

Fred Jones was actually impressed. Sure, when he'd given Freddy the credit card for emergencies only, snacks and pizza hadn't exactly been what he'd had in mind, but the kids were all probably very hungry from missing lunch and dinner, so food was a pretty important thing to get. Especially if it kept all of the kids in one place.

"That's not a bad plan," Fred Jones said slowly.

"Thanks," Freddy said, and Fred Jones could hear the smile in his voice. Freddy always got excited about getting complimented, especially by his dad. It was reactions like this that made Fred Jones wonder if he should give more credit to Freddy where credit was due. The boy just seemed way too desperate for approval from him.

"Look out for the others," Fred Jones said. Freddy may not be the most naturally responsible kid, but at fifteen years old, Freddy was a year older than all of his peers. In circumstances like this, the oldest child may naturally be looked to as the leader.

"I will," Freddy sounded determined. This past year, Fred Jones had been trying to teach his son how to step up and take charge, and this seemed like a good situation to test himself.

"Someone will be by soon," Fred Jones said. "I'll see you at home,"

"Yeah, see you, Dad," Freddy hung up. Fred Jones sighed and took a moment to gather himself before he called up Angie. He didn't know if the Dinkley girl, Velma, had called her mother, but Fred Jones thought he should give her a call anyways. Angie had recently acquired a bus, to give tours around the city, and a bus was more than large enough to pick up the eight children. Besides, Fred Jones knew that Angie wouldn't ask questions, or expect payment for her effort.

If Fred Jones weren't mayor, he would pick up the children himself. He had to let the whole town know what was happening though. By the time he was done, Freddy should be safe and at home, and they could actually sit down and talk.

Now that Fred Jones knew what was going on, and he knew the kids were safe, he felt much more ready to talk to the people of Crystal Cove, even the reporters. It was much easier to assure people that everything was okay when he felt secure himself.

It was almost another two hours before Fred Jones was able to get home. First he had to convince the police force to move beyond their technical jurisdiction a few miles to find the kidnapper. Harder than that though was convincing the police to not bring in the monster, but the person who had been wearing the costume. They weren't going to be turning this into a spectacle to draw in a crowd. They just needed to bring in a criminal, without interrogating him about the story behind his costume.

Fred Jones also had to address the reporters again, which he never enjoyed. However, he would rather deal with fifty reporters than personally talk to the parents of the kids who had been taken. He spent much longer than he would have liked trying to convince the Blakes and Rogers that no, this whole thing wasn't a conspiracy to bring in crowds.

Of all the kids who were going to be Freshmen next year, why did Daphne and Norville, or Shaggy, as Freddy liked to call him, have to be part of the group that got kidnapped? Freddy had told him over and over again that Daphne and Shaggy were really nice, but their parents were annoying enough to Fred Jones that he felt like groaning whenever he heard that Freddy was around those two. And it just seemed to be happening more and more lately.

Fred Jones really wanted to tell Freddy to stay away from the Blake and Rogers kids before they truly became friends, but whenever he thought about mentioning it, he felt like he physically couldn't. An image of the treasure of Crystal Cove would come to his mind, and the next thing he knew he was trying to convince Freddy to spend _more_ time with the kids. It was all so weird.

When Fred Jones finally got home, he saw Freddy sitting on the couch, talking on the phone. When the boy saw him, he grinned broadly.

"Sorry, Shaggy, I gotta go, my dad just got back," Freddy said. A moment passed before Freddy chuckled. "Come on, my dad's not gonna blame you. He knows this whole thing was my fault," Freddy looked at Fred Jones, who frowned and crossed his arms. Freddy's grin deflated slightly. "Oh, yeah, he totally blames me." Freddy sighed. "Sorry, I really can't distract you anymore. I'll see you at school tomorrow. Yeah, bye," Freddy hung up and sat up straight. "Uh, hi, Dad,"

"What were you distracting the Rogers boy from?" Fred Jones asked.

"He was a little freaked out about what happened today," Freddy said. "He wanted someone to talk to, but he didn't want to hear his parents lecture him anymore,"

"Yes, well, I can't blame him," Fred Jones muttered. Freddy's grin came back and he laughed. The boy didn't have a lot of experience with the Rogers, but he'd heard Fred Jones, and probably Shaggy as well, complain about them. "Speaking of what happened today, what _did_ happen?"

"A lot," Freddy rubbed the back of his neck. "You want me to just start at the beginning, or…"

"The beginning would be nice," Fred Jones sat down on his lounging chair. It was facing away from the couch, but Freddy just grabbed the couch's throw blanket and sat down on the ground in front of the chair Fred Jones didn't know how, but this had become their go-to serious talk position. If Fred Jones was lounging and Freddy sat down on the ground near him, he knew that the boy had something important on his mind.

"Alright, well, we were at the museum when the monster showed up," Freddy said. "Velma's mom was going to take us to safety, but then Velma noticed that the monster's tail didn't move the way that tails usually do. She said it was too stiff, and then Daphne was brushed by the monster, and she could tell right away that the fur wasn't real, which meant neither was the monster. So a bunch of us went to go prove that the monster wasn't real, but then we kinda got caught."

Fred Jones pinched the bridge of his nose. So the kids had all but gone looking for trouble. "Do you have any idea just how dangerous that was?"

"What? No, Dad, I told you, the monster wasn't real," Freddy said desperately.

"That doesn't mean the danger wasn't." Fred Jones said sternly. He sighed. "Freddy, not all monsters are creatures. A lot of them are normal people, do you understand me?"

"I think so," Freddy frowned thoughtfully. "You're saying that all of the monsters in Crystal Cove are just people wearing masks." An excited glint came to Freddy's eyes. "It's like a mystery,"

"No!" Fred Jones leaned forward. Freddy had started to get interested in mysteries. It was tolerable when he just read mystery books and talked to Angie's kid about mysteries that were around town, but Fred Jones was worried that this interest in mysteries was building up to a desire to solve those mysteries, and that was not what Fred Jones wanted. He didn't want Freddy to explore any more interests that he somehow got from Brad and Judy. Especially not if those interests encouraged him to do anything ridiculously careless, like it had today.

"Freddy, just because someone is human doesn't make them any less dangerous than a real monster," Fred Jones really didn't want his son to decide to solve mysteries or conspiracies. "In some ways, it makes them even more dangerous,"

"How?" Freddy asked.

"Well, because you can't tell just by looking at a person if they're dangerous," Fred Jones said. "Even someone you've known for a long time, someone you trust, can turn around and do something really horrible," That was what Fred Jones had done to Brad and Judy, as well as the rest of Mystery Incorporated. He'd only been able to accomplish what he had because those kids had trusted him.

"Then those people need to be found," Freddy said. He'd looked eager and interested before, but now he looked determined. "If people are doing things wrong, whether they're wearing a mask or not, someone needs to stop them,"

"I agree," Fred Jones said. He agreed, for the most part. Of course he didn't want to be caught himself, but people like the monster from today really needed to get off the streets. "But that's what the police are for. It is not your job, Freddy, to catch those people,"

"But no one else is," Freddy raised his voice slightly. "You and the police are too busy promoting these monsters. You're practically inviting them to come here!" Freddy glared at him. After a long moment of them just staring at each other, Freddy's eyes widened and he shrunk in on himself slightly. "I...I mean,"

"You're grounded," Fred Jones said.

"What?!" Freddy sounded angry again. "Why?"

"Because you're not listening to me," Fred Jones said. "You went running into danger, you dragged your peers along with you, and you don't seem to understand why that was wrong." Freddy seemed to try to scowl, but it looked more like an angry pout. "Until you figure out what you did wrong, no more traps or mysteries for you." The moment that Fred Jones said it, he felt the need to take it back. He felt like he somehow wasn't allowed to keep Freddy from solving mysteries or building traps. He didn't change his mind though. Even with his every interest fighting him, Fred Jones stayed firm. He'd made his decision.

Freddy wrung his ascot in his hands. "...Fine," Freddy stood up and left the room. If he was any other kid, he probably would have stormed, but Fred Jones didn't think Freddy actually knew how to be mad. He got angry sometimes, of course, everybody did, but Freddy didn't seem to struggle with the raw, uncontrollable fury that made people lash out.

Usually, Fred Jones was grateful that Freddy was relatively calm, even when he was frustrated with other people or himself. At times like this though, a part of Fred Jones wished that Freddy would really get mad, that he would fight him. Somehow, Fred Jones felt like it would be easier to justify being hard on his kid if Freddy would just try to resist him, have that famous teenage rebellious phase that Fred Jones had heard so much about. As it was, Fred Jones sometimes felt like he was picking on his son, which was just ridiculous. Freddy was his son. It was Fred Jones' job to tell him what to do and discipline him.

Still, he'd been doing this for fifteen years. Fred Jones had hoped that by now it would feel more natural to him. If anything, Fred Jones thought that he had even less an idea of what he was doing than he did when Freddy was just an infant. Sometimes, Fred Jones considered just how much easier his life would be if he'd never taken Freddy in the first place. He didn't want to consider it for long, and he certainly didn't regret taking Freddy, but still, it was always lingering at the back of his head. What if...what if?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I'll ever get sick of writing about Fred Jones. He's just such an interesting character. He's a father who cares about his son, but when it comes to actually interacting with Freddy, he doesn't know how to show that care. And we mustn't forget about the fact that Fred Jones is also dealing with the whole being influenced by the evil entity thing. I feel like with this chapter, I was able to capture all of those things.


	9. Chapter 9

Ever since Freddy had been old enough for Fred Jones to allow him to sit in the front seat of the car, his son had gained an interest in cars and any other vehicles. Fred Jones encouraged his interest, because if Freddy was going to be passionately obsessed about something, Fred Jones would rather it be something that he didn't seem to inherit from Brad and Judy. To Fred Jones' knowledge, neither Brad nor Judy had any particular interest in cars. Mystery Incorporated's vehicle hadn't even belonged to them, it had been Ricky's.

Fred Jones had been so encouraging of Freddy's passion that he took it upon himself to teach him how to drive. Freddy could take a drivers-ed class, but there were two main problems with that. Freddy's passion and lack of focus could make it difficult for him to learn in a regular school setting. Fred Jones predicted that if Freddy took the class, it would come with a lot of frustration for him, Fred Jones, and the instructor.

Besides that, Freddy was a year older than all of his peers, and in Crystal Cove drivers-ed wasn't open according to age, it was open according to grade, so Freddy would have to wait an extra year.

Fred Jones had thought that teaching Freddy would be a burden, but he enjoyed it more than he thought he would. As soon as they got Freddy his learner's permit, and Fred Jones had taught him the basics, things were incredibly easy. Freddy took to driving like a fish to water. All Fred Jones had to do was sit in the front seat, make the occasional comment, and just let Freddy drive around so he could get enough driving hours to get his license.

Fred Jones took advantage of this time to do research for the treasure. He would grab his books, notes, and spend an hour or two every evening driving around with Freddy. It wasn't the most effective method of researching he'd tried, but it was definitely the most consistent, and it worked quite well. Fred Jones thought that he achieved more in these past few months, reading just an hour at a time, than he had for years, with his occasional binge sessions.

Even after Freddy got his license, Fred Jones was so used to this new habit, and he thought he was so close to a breakthrough, that he insisted that while Freddy could drive himself to and from school on his own, Fred Jones still wanted to do their evening drives for a few weeks. His excuse that he just wanted to be absolutely certain that Freddy was doing well was a weak one, but Freddy didn't question him at all. He happily agreed, and Fred Jones thought that his son might have enjoyed their evening drives just as much as he did.

One day, as soon as Fred Jones finished eating his dinner, Freddy was practically bouncing with enthusiasm. "Can we go driving now? Before it gets dark?"

"Since when are you skittish about driving at night?" Fred Jones asked. He'd made sure that before Freddy got his license, he was just as comfortable driving at night as he was at day.

"I'm not nervous about it," Freddy said. "There's just somewhere I want to be, and they said they would be there until dark,"

"They? They who?" Fred Jones asked. He hadn't heard Freddy say anything about hanging out with friends lately.

"You'll see," Freddy said with a broad grin. "They're so cool. I think you'll like them," Fred Jones highly doubted it, because he and Freddy had completely different ideas of what was 'cool', but he would humor his son in this. He had reading he wanted to do anyways.

"Alright, let's go," Fred Jones said. He followed his son outside to the old van. It had been a vehicle that Angie used to use to give tours before she's gotten her bus. She'd allowed Fred Jones to borrow it when he'd started teaching Freddy how to drive, because he didn't want to use his own, nice car to teach a beginner. Freddy loved the old van, and Fred Jones thought that he would buy the vehicle from Angie and give it to Freddy to be his. Well, he wouldn't necessarily give it to Freddy, as Fred Jones didn't think that you could get something for nothing, but Fred Jones figured that Freddy could more than earn the van by doing some simple driving work for him for a few months, running errands and such.

Once they were in the van Fred Jones got to work on his reading. He didn't ask where they were going. He just let Freddy drive out past the city limits and into the farming fields outside of Crystal Cove. Fred Jones was glad that his son decided to take them so far, because half an hour out he finally found what he'd been looking for for all these years. The possible location of a piece of the planispheric disk.

Fred Jones didn't know exactly where the piece was, but he had found enough evidence to suggest that one of the pieces had been packed up and sent off to Russia. A part of Fred Jones was frustrated and disappointed that the best he could narrow down was that a piece was somewhere in the largest country in the world. A larger part of him was just excited that he'd been able to figure something out, and there would probably be even more information in Russia, should he ever decide to go there.

"You look excited," Freddy commented as he drove off the main road and onto dirt roads that barely looked tread upon at all. "Did you finally solve that mystery you've been working on?" Freddy didn't know about the planispheric disk, he just knew that Fred Jones had something that he'd been trying to figure out for years. Freddy had always been surprisingly understanding when Fred Jones would spend hours on end researching.

"I'm nowhere close to solving it," Fred Jones said honestly. He still only had one of the six pieces. "You could say that I've found another clue though,"

"That's great," Freddy grinned. He almost looked more excited than Fred Jones felt. Freddy stopped the van and turned it off. Fred Jones looked around only to realize that he had no idea where they were. It just looked like a plain, empty field, far away from civilization. Fred Jones was surprised to see that they weren't the only ones there. There was another car, and a few hundred yards away there were two people standing in the middle of the field, looking up into the air.

Freddy grinned and started running towards them. Fred Jones followed behind him at a slower pace. Why was Freddy meeting up with strangers out in the middle of nowhere? How had he even met these people?

"Hey!" Freddy waved out to the others. "Did I miss it?"

"Nah, kid," One of the strangers, a young man who looked about ten years older than Freddy, said. "You're just in time. Flare and Jee should be here any minute now,"

"Is this your old man?" The other stranger, a woman with incredibly short hair, looked at Fred Jones.

"Oh, yeah," Freddy grinned. "Guys, this is my dad. Dad, this is Peyton and Sol. They're barnstormers."

Fred Jones raised an eyebrow. He had never even heard that word before. "You're what?"

"Barnstormers," The woman, Sol, said. "Aerial acrobats, stunt flyers, daredevils, you know,"

Fred Jones looked at Freddy, who looked far too comfortable and cheerful. It was hard to tell just how long he'd known these people, because sometimes Freddy could act distantly towards people that he's known for a long time, and sometimes he was completely comfortable with them from the moment he met them. "How did you come to meet these people?"

"He saw our planes last week, and followed them out here," Peyton said.

"I've never seen planes do flips and twists like that before. It looked like so much fun. I just wanted to see what it was," Freddy said. "I've come here to watch them every day during lunch,"

Fred Jones frowned. He'd been wondering why he'd gotten calls from Freddy's school, saying that he'd been missing half of civics class every day for the past week. He'd been meaning to talk to him about it later. "Just because you have your own car doesn't mean you can leave school whenever you want," Fred Jones thought he should probably ban Freddy from driving himself to school for a week, to get him to realize there were consequences to his actions.

Freddy grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know. I won't do it again,"

"You'd better not," Fred Jones said. He would have scolded Freddy more, but then they heard the loud humming of an approaching plane. Freddy got excited and started searching the skies. Before too long they saw the plane approaching. As it gradually got lower, Fred Jones was shocked and horrified to see that while there was someone inside the plane, it also looked like there was someone standing on top of it.

_This_ was what Freddy was getting interested in? Fred Jones would almost prefer that he return to building traps...almost.

"Look at them go," Freddy said, his eyes full of awe. "Jee looks like she's flying." As they were in an airplane, they clearly were flying, but Fred Jones knew what his son meant. The four of them watched as the small plane landed and rolled on the ground a bit until it slowed to a stop. Fred Jones relaxed ever so slightly when he saw that the woman who had been standing on the plane, Jee, had been harnessed and strapped in. It had still been completely unsafe, but at least they had put in some precautions.

Freddy, Peyton, and Sol all ran up to the plane just as Jee was unfastening herself and jumping down. "Freddy, I was wondering if you would show up today," The man who had been flying the plane, Flare, came down. "What did you think?"

"It was awesome," Freddy said enthusiastically. "I've never seen someone stand on a plane before,"

"Do you want to give it a try?" Peyton asked.

"Absolutely not," Fred Jones said. "He's not flying in that thing,"

"We wouldn't let him get in the air," Jee almost sounded insulted that Fred Jones would even suggest such a thing. "The plane wouldn't leave the ground,"

"It would just roll on the ground, like a plane-shaped car," Freddy said. "It would be completely safe,"

Fred Jones crossed his arm. "I wouldn't necessarily call standing on top of a moving vehicle completely safe,"

"I assure you, we know what we're doing," Flare said. "Those harnesses are similar to ones that parachutes use."

"I'll be careful," Freddy assured him. "Please, can I just try?"

Fred Jones wasn't completely convinced, but he was worried that if he didn't let Freddy do this safely and supervised, his son might convince Shaggy to drive his van while he stood on top of it. That would just be asking for trouble. If Freddy was going to be dancing with death, he might as well do it when there were people around who knew what they were doing.

"Just don't let me see you doing something like this on your own," Fred Jones said reluctantly. Freddy cheered and climbed onto the plane. Sol climbed up after him and began to harness him in, talking him through exactly what she was doing and why. Freddy soaked it all up.

"I'm sorry if Freddy's been bugging you," Fred Jones said. He knew better than anybody else just how intense and annoying Freddy could be when he got really passionate. Not just anybody could handle it.

"Oh, no, he's been great," Flare said. "He's far from the first kid to be interested in what we do,"

"He is the first one to come looking for us though," Peyton grinned. "He's not just interested in watching our tricks either. Freddy's been asking about the flying itself. He's actually interested in flying,"

Fred Jones frowned. That was a rather new development. Usually when Freddy had a new interest, Fred Jones wouldn't stop hearing about it, but unless Fred Jones had been paying so little attention to his son that he completely missed it, Freddy hadn't said a word about planes or flying.

Fred Jones watched as Sol finished hooking Freddy up and climbed into the cockpit of the monoplane. She started the plane and started rolling it forward. Freddy lurched ever so slightly when they started, but he found his balance soon enough. Fred Jones watched tensely as Freddy cheerfully rode on top of the slow moving plane. It was clear that Freddy was having the time of his life. This may be a brand new interest he'd discovered, but Fred Jones wondered if it was one that he should encourage as he had the driving.

The very moment the thought entered his head, Fred Jones suddenly realized how much this could come to his advantage. Maybe not the barnstorming, but flying. If Fred Jones wanted the piece of the planispheric disk in Russia, he would have to go there. That would be simple enough to arrange, but more difficult would be to bring the piece of the planispheric disk back home.

Fred Jones wouldn't want to risk putting it in his baggage, because there was always the chance that he might lose it. The golden planispheric disk wouldn't be able to get through customs though, especially not if someone who caught a glimpse of it got a sudden interest in the treasure. It would all be a pain, that was if Fred Jones found the piece at all.

The easiest solution was to hire a private jet, but there was no one he could trust to fly him to Russia and back without question. No one, except possibly Freddy.

Fred Jones smiled to himself as the idea formed in his head. "How would one go about learning how to fly?"

You mean traditionally, or like us?" Jee asked. Fred Jones considered it for a moment.

"Both," Fred Jones didn't exactly see any use for flying barnstorming, but it might get Freddy more interested in learning how to fly in the more traditional sense.

"Well, there are flight schools," Peyton said. "They won't really teach you how to do tricks like us," No, Fred Jones didn't think that would be the case. It would be like drivers-ed teaching students how to participate in a speed race. "He could get a license though." And that was all Fred Jones was interested in.

"I may have to look into that," Fred Jones said. Now that Freddy had his driver's license, Fred Jones needed something new to keep Freddy's interest. Maybe it would serve to keep him distracted enough that he wouldn't go running off with Angie's kid and solving mysteries, which Fred Jones had heard rumors of them doing lately.

Fred Jones had never thought that Freddy would get an interest in flying, but he thought he could use this to his advantage. It would be rather expensive, but so would a commercial flight to Russia, as well as anywhere else that the other pieces of the planispheric disk might be. In the long run, Freddy being able to fly might just pay off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In just a single episode, it's mentioned that Freddy isn't just professionally trained as a pilot (which is impressive enough as it is), but also as a barnstormer. Like...what? A barnstormer? Fred Jones probably wouldn't have paid for it unless he thought it would come to use to him, but the reason I came up with is still a bit of a stretch. This is why I think Freddy actually got interested in it first, and then his dad used that to his advantage.
> 
> Though Freddy uses his driving and flying knowledge to solve mysteries and stuff, I actually don't think that the entity influenced those interests. That was all Freddy, and it's kind of nice to have him get interested in something that's all his.


	10. Chapter 10

Fred Jones usually tried to show up at the office fairly early, just so he could have a little bit of quiet time before his work really began. It also meant that if something needed his urgent attention, he was right there to take care of it, instead of having to be called in from home. That didn't happen very often though, so Fred Jones was surprised when, barely five minutes after he got to the office, his secretary came in to tell him that Sheriff Bronson Stone was calling him, and it sounded pretty serious

Fred Jones picked up his phone. "Sheriff, what seems to be the problem?"

"Mayor, you've got to come get your kid," Sheriff Stone said desperately.

Fred Jones frowned and leaned forward in his chair. "Freddy? Where is he? What happened?"

"He's here at the police station," Sheriff Stone said. Fred Jones sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"He's been arrested again?" Fred Jones hated this. Freddy was a good kid, too good. Ever since he'd entered into his Junior year of high school, Freddy, Angie's kid, the Blake girl, and the Rogers boy had truly become close friends, which was fine. What was less fine was that it seemed that the only thing the four of them were interested in doing was solving mysteries. For about six months they'd just been 'solving' the older mysteries of the town, the ones that had already died down and become local legends. It was annoying and inconvenient for business, but not too bad. People who came to their museums and took their tours were more likely to believe what they wanted than trust the word of four strange kids they didn't know.

Lately though, the kids had started to try to solve mysteries and expose cons that were ongoing and current, which made it really difficult to promote these monsters. It had gotten so bad that the police had to get involved. They'd all been hoping that the empty threat of being locked up for interfering in a police investigation would scare the kids into backing off, but no such luck. The very next day, the kids were right back to solving mysteries. It was infuriating.

Fred Jones had tried to talk to Freddy about this, but nothing he said seemed to reach him. Freddy was determined to solve mysteries. The way that Freddy talked about it, it was like Freddy felt compelled or forced to do this, like he was physically incapable of stopping.

It took some convincing, but Freddy eventually agreed to at least not let his mysteries get in the way of his education. Obviously it was taking time that could otherwise be dedicated to studying, but Freddy had yet to miss school because of his mysteries, so Fred Jones had been content. At least, until now.

"It's barely seven in the morning," Fred Jones frowned. Yes, school hadn't actually started yet, but what was Freddy doing running around so early on a school day?

"I'm sorry for calling so early," Sheriff Stone said. "I just can't take it anymore. Your kid is seriously freaking me out."

"What's he doing?" Fred Jones asked. Freddy was a lot of things, but creepy certainly wasn't one of them.

"Nothing! That's just it!" Sheriff Stone said loudly. "He's just been sitting here for hours, not moving."

Most of the irritation that Fred Jones felt with his son slipped away. Hours? That couldn't be right. "Exactly how long has Freddy been there?"

"Since eightish last night." Sheriff Stone said. Fred Jones tightened his grip around the phone. Freddy had been there for almost twelve hours, and this was the first thing he had heard from it?

"Why didn't you call me last night?" Fred Jones asked stiffly. "Please don't tell me his friends have been there all this time too," He could just imagine the complaints from the Blakes and Rogers.

"No, they were told right away," Sheriff Stone said.

"So why wasn't I?" Fred Jones asked. He was getting more and more frustrated.

"The other kids are minors, I had to call their parents," Sheriff Stone said. "Your kid's eighteen. I thought that spending the night behind bars would get him out of this weird obsession of his,"

Fred Jones scowled and clutched at the phone so tightly he thought it might break. "That is not your decision to make," Yes, they had tried something similar for all four of the children, but there was a difference between arresting them and keeping them in jail overnight. "I'm on my way. Don't say _anything_ to Freddy until I get there." Fred Jones hung up and stood up. He would have to talk to both Freddy and Sheriff Stone about this.

Fred Jones had never been more grateful that the police station was so close to city hall. Fred Jones was able to drive there in under five minutes. He stormed into the police station and was immediately greeted by Sheriff Stone. The two of them were usually really friendly with each other, but Fred Jones did nothing more than glare at him and continue on to the holding cell that his son was kept in.

"Freddy," Fred Jones looked at his son, who was sitting curled up on the bench. Freddy didn't move at all. He just sat there with his head buried in his knees. Fred Jones turned towards Sheriff Stone. "Open the cell," The sheriff was quick to do as he said. Fred Jones entered the cell and knelt in front of Freddy. He put a hand on his son's shoulder. He gave it a slight squeeze.

Freddy jumped suddenly and came back to awareness. Freddy looked at his dad in shock for a moment before he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Fred Jones' shoulders. Freddy didn't normally initiate physical contact like this, especially with his dad, so Fred Jones was shocked for a bit. It took Fred Jones a long moment to realize that Freddy was muttering apologies into his shoulder.

"Grilled salmon on the lawn, don't apologize," Fred Jones pulled back. He was alarmed to see Freddy sniffle and wipe his nose and wet eyes with his sleeve. Fred Jones hadn't known what to do with his crying son when he'd just been a child. How was he supposed to handle it when his son was technically an adult? If they were alone, Fred Jones might scold Freddy, just because he wouldn't know how else to react, but he had more pressing matters to deal with.

"I'll give you one more chance to explain," Fred Jones said coldly to the sheriff He got to his feet. "Why didn't you call me? Freddy may technically be an adult, but anybody who is arrested is entitled to a phone call," Fred Jones didn't know if that was actually the case everywhere, but he knew for a fact those were the rules in Crystal Cove.

"I told him he could have a phone call, but he didn't take me up on it," Sheriff Stone said.

Freddy fiddled with his ascot slightly. When he acted like this, Fred Jones had a hard time believing that Freddy was legally an adult and his own guardian. "I thought that was just for lawyers," Freddy said. "I didn't know how to contact a lawyer, and I didn't know if I needed one, because I don't really understand what I was arrested for."

"You were meddling in a police investigation," Sheriff Stone said.

"What investigation?" Freddy frowned. "You told me yourself that the police wasn't going to even try to solve the mystery,"

"Well, you were, uh, trespassing," Sheriff Stone said.

"We were at a park!" Freddy stood up as he defended himself. "A public park that should have been open to everybody for another hour."

Fred Jones could feel a headache coming on. He already knew what had happened. Freddy and his friends had tried to solve another of the town's mysteries. Either it was a brand new one that wasn't known to the public yet, or it was an older mystery, because Fred Jones wasn't aware of any new monsters terrorizing the city last night.

Sheriff Stone had little patience for Freddy and his friends, and he must have been in a bad mood last night to bring the kids and keep Freddy there overnight. Fred Jones doubted the kids had done anything too different than they usually did, they were just unlucky.

"Sheriff, next time you bring these kids in, I expect to be called immediately," Fred Jones said. Even if Freddy needed to stay in jail overnight or longer, Fred Jones at least wanted to know about it. Freddy looked at Fred Jones in confusion. Fred Jones raised an eyebrow at his son. "What?"

"I...I thought…" Freddy shifted sheepishly. "Didn't Sheriff Stone call you last night when he called the others?"

Fred Jones scowled and glared at Sheriff Stone, who had the decency to look a little ashamed. "Unfortunately, he didn't think to call me until this morning,"

"Oh," Freddy relaxed slightly and grinned in relief. "I thought you just, well…"Freddy trailed off, embarrassed.

Fred Jones watched his son carefully. He felt something resembling guilt build up in his chest, which he didn't completely understand. He made a lot of mistakes when it came to raising Freddy, but he couldn't think of anything that he had done wrong this time. "You thought I was called, and just decided to leave you here all night?" Freddy's grimace was enough of an answer. They would have to talk about this, but not here at the police station. This was a conversation just for the two of them.

"If there's nothing else, Sheriff, I'll be taking my son home now," Fred Jones said. He knew that Freddy had school this morning, but after the night his son had, Fred Jones thought that it would be okay to give him the day off.

"No, of course, Mayor," Sheriff Stone said quickly. The man was always quick to please him. Fred Jones took Freddy's arm, firmly but not too harshly, and pulled him out of the station. Once they were outside Freddy pulled out of his grasp and moved ahead to the car. Freddy got into the front seat and, once again, pulled his legs up to his chest.

Fred Jones sighed and got into the car. He didn't start the car right away. Fred Jones turned towards his son. He wanted Freddy to know that he was taking this conversation seriously.

"Did you really think I would just leave you here?" Fred Jones asked. Freddy shrugged.

"No?" Freddy looked at him with a pained expression. "It's just...I know you don't really like that I solve mysteries, and you're always really busy and tired."

"Just because I don't agree with what you do doesn't mean I think you should go to jail for it," Fred Jones insisted. "And just because I'm busy doesn't mean that you should feel like you can't call me if you need help. I'm your father. It's my job to be inconvenienced when you need something,"

Freddy nodded, but Fred Jones had long since learned that if Freddy didn't give him a verbal response, he might not completely understand. "I mean it, Freddy," Fred Jones said. "If you get into trouble, I want you to call me. I can't promise that I'll show up to help right away," Freddy needed to learn how to stand on his own two feet at some point, and Fred Jones did have a life outside of his son. "But at least I'll know where you are, and you'll know that I'm not completely abandoning you,"

Freddy gave him a small smile. "Yeah, okay," Freddy's smile dimmed slightly. "I'm not very good at this being an adult thing, am I?"

"You're only eighteen," Fred Jones said. "If you ask me, that's really young for someone to be considered an adult. I mean, you're still in high school for crying out loud." Fred Jones turned the car on and began to drive. "Let me tell you a secret about being an adult, nobody actually knows what they're doing. Some people are just better at faking it than others," Freddy laughed, but he still looked upset and a little distracted.

"What am I supposed to do if something happens to you?" Freddy asked. "If you're arrested or you die or something, everybody's going to expect me to just take care of myself, and I don't know how to do that. I totally freaked out last night because I didn't know what to do."

Fred Jones clutched the steering wheel. "Well, I'm not planning on getting arrested or dying anytime soon." Fred Jones took a deep breath. He couldn't just avoid this conversation, because it was really important. "But if something does happen, I'm not going to leave you high and dry. For one thing, I'm almost done paying off my mortgage, which means that our house will be well and truly mine. And if something happens to me, it'll be yours."

Fred Jones had actually been planning this for a while now. He'd been gradually paying off his mortgage, but this past year, as Freddy and his friends had started to get more into solving mysteries, he'd started to increase his payments. Just because he didn't want the worst to happen didn't mean that he wasn't going to be prepared, just in case.

"You're a lot more responsible than you think you are," Fred Jones said. "If worst comes to worst, we can take another look at getting you a pilot's license when you're done with school," Freddy had received a fair amount of training when it came to flying, and he was just a few steps away from getting certified. The two of them had agreed that it might be best if Freddy just focused on a few things at a time instead of trying to juggle so much at once.

"Yeah, I guess so," Freddy said. He didn't look completely reassured, but he didn't seem as worried as he had before.

"And just because you're an adult doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself," Fred Jones said. "I'm sure your school counselors would be more than happy to help. That's what they're there for." Fred Jones glanced towards his son. "Just so we're clear, I want you to graduate high school. I don't expect your grades to be perfect, but you're going to have a really hard time in life if you don't graduate at least from high school." Fred Jones knew it wasn't impossible to be successful without a basic diploma, but few people could do it, and Fred Jones didn't think that his son was one of them.

"Velma says the same thing to Shaggy all the time," Fred said. "Of course I'll stay in school. That's where my friends are." It wasn't exactly the best motivation that Fred Jones could ask from his son, but it might be too much to expect much more.

"At least we're understanding each other," Fred Jones said. "Did you actually get any sleep last night?"

"I was in jail and worried that I would be sent off to prison," Freddy said almost humorously. "I didn't get a wink," At least Freddy was handling it well. Fred Jones had been worried that his son would be traumatized by this experience, and yet he was already able to laugh about it.

"I thought as much," Fred Jones said. "I have to get back to work, but I'm dropping you off at home and I expect you to stay there and get some sleep."

"I'm not tired," Freddy said. Fred Jones felt like rolling his eyes.

"That's because you're running on adrenaline from lingering anxiety," Fred Jones said. "Once you've calmed down, I have no doubt that you're going to crash, and it might as well happen at home rather than at school." He pulled into the driveway of their home. "I'll pick up something for dinner on my way home. If there are any serious problems, please, call me. I would rather be a little concerned about you sooner rather than very worried later."

Freddy grinned and got out of the car. "Alright, Dad. I'll see you later," He closed the door behind him and made his way into the house. Fred Jones waited until Freddy was safely inside before he pulled back out of the driveway again. By now, he was a little late, but nothing too bad. It was better to be a little late than leave Freddy at the police station for a few more hours.

Although, now Fred Jones had to have a few words with Sheriff Stone about arresting people just because he didn't like them. Fred Jones didn't claim to be a model citizen, but he expected more from the city's sheriff. Maybe the man needed the reminder that he'd been voted into his position by the people, and they could just as easily vote him out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that by the time of the show, Freddy goes by the name Fred, even by his dad, but I think I'm going to keep on calling him Freddy. It would just be too confusing if I called him Fred while his dad is Fred Jones.
> 
> I plan most chapters out beforehand, but I thought of this one just a few days ago. In the show, it seemed like a normal occurrence for the kids to get arrested and their parents to be called. The thing is, with the age I've been writing Freddy, he's a legal adult. The magical and infuriating thing about turning eighteen is that different rules start to apply to you.
> 
> There are a few reasons why I think that Freddy is an adult in the show. The biggest reason is because when Fred Jones gets arrested, Freddy is just left to his own devices. He's allowed to keep on living in his house, child protective services don't come for him, it's just kinda life as usual, and I don't think that would happen if a single parent is arrested.


	11. Chapter 11

Everything had gotten out of control so quickly, and Fred Jones had never felt so conflicted. It felt like at all times, with everything he did and every thought he had, his head was pulling him in three different directions. Take Freddy's mystery solving for example. He and his friends had started to spend every second of their spare time solving mysteries. Even Velma's grades were suffering slightly because of it (not the letter grade itself, but it just meant she had about 97% in all her classes instead of 112%).

Part of Fred Jones wanted his son to stop solving mysteries because he was worried he would be found out as the Freak, and everything he had worked towards would be ruined. Part of Fred Jones wanted Freddy to stop because it was making things complicated for the town, and some of these mysteries were far too dangerous for Fred Jones' liking. Yet another part of him almost wanted Freddy to continue following this path he was on, and Fred Jones had no idea why.

It all made Fred Jones' head hurt. Thinking too much about just what he should do just made his headache worse. Fred Jones started to just follow his first instinct with everything, instead of thinking too much about it. He knew this meant that some of the things he did conflicted directly with others. He was lucky that nobody was calling him out for his strange behavior. Even Freddy wasn't questioning him, though that probably said more about Freddy's naivety than Fred Jones' mastery of subtlety.

Tonight had especially been a disaster. Fred Jones had barely slept a wink all week, so he wasn't in a very good mood in the first place. His piece of the planispheric disk had been stolen by Professor Pericles. The only thing he had going for him was that Freddy was oblivious to what was going on. His friends seemed a little suspicious of Fred Jones' sloppy excuses as to why he had the piece of the planispheric disk in the first place, but Freddy didn't even bat an eye at it. His son trusted him completely.

Tonight's events were a stark reminder to Fred Jones that he didn't deserve his son's trust at all.

Freddy had long since fallen asleep. Fred Jones could hear him snoring lightly and muttering in his sleep in the bunk above him. Fred Jones' mattress had a hole in it from Pericles' little stunt today. It was too late to get the mattress replaced tonight, and Freddy was so clingy that he didn't want to let Fred Jones out of his sight at all. Freddy hadn't calmed down until Fred Jones had agreed to sleep in his room with him, something he hadn't remembered ever doing, even when Freddy was a really little kid who had nightmares.

Speaking of nightmares, Fred Jones had been plagued by an old one for a while now. Ever since Daphne had found Judy's locket, when Fred Jones had started feeling conflicted about everything, he'd started to have dreams about the Freak again. This time the Freak in his nightmares looked identical to the costume that Fred Jones had worn, which made the creature even more unnerving.

It was partially because of these nightmares that Fred Jones didn't feel like he would be able to get any sleep. The other reason was because he felt like he had a pit in his stomach. He felt guilty, and hearing Freddy sleeping above him didn't ease his guilt at all.

After lying in bed for over an hour Fred Jones sighed in annoyance and got up. He clearly wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight, and he didn't see the point in trying anymore. If he was going to be awake, he might as well do something with himself. Fred Jones' mind was full and he felt overwhelmed. He just wanted everything to stop, even if just for an hour or two. He needed a drink.

Fred Jones got out of bed. He very cautiously made his way across the floor of Freddy's room. He wasn't in the mood to set off one of the traps. Thanks to Pericles, he'd had more than enough of his son's traps for the night. Before leaving the room, Fred Jones glanced at Freddy. The young man was cuddling with Mr. Trapples, who he had actually started to grow out of. Freddy must have been really stressed if he was sleeping with his old bear again.

Fred Jones felt that familiar feeling of guilt get stronger. He left the room, closing the door gently behind him. Fred Jones made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. He didn't drink very often, but he had a small collection for when he entertained guests. Fred Jones was normally a fan of wine, or maybe some mixed drinks, but after the night he'd had he needed something a little stronger, something that could actually drown out his thoughts and emotions.

Fred Jones grabbed a bottle of scotch, which he'd nearly forgotten he'd had, and a shot glass. He made his way to the living room. Fred Jones was about to stoke up the fireplace and collapse onto his lounge chair, but then he caught sight of a picture that he hadn't given a second look for nearly eighteen years. It was the picture that Fred Jones claimed was Freddy's mom, when in reality it was just a cutout from a magazine.

Fred Jones had been able to convince Freddy that this was a picture of his mother, and his son hadn't questioned him about it at all. Freddy trusted him so completely that all Fred Jones had to say was that he didn't like to talk about Freddy's mother, and even though the boy was obviously curious, he avoided saying anything that might upset his father.

Fred Jones honestly didn't like to talk about Freddy's mother, but just not for the reason why Freddy thought. Fred Jones wasn't heartbroken over the love of his life walking out on him, he just really didn't like Judy Reeves.

Fred Jones sometimes caught his son looking at the fake picture of his 'mother', but he didn't personally give it a second glance or thought. That is, until now. Fred Jones put the scotch bottled and glass on top of the fireplace mantel and picked up the photo. He looked at it guiltily.

"What am I doing?" Fred Jones said tiredly. He felt exhausted and about fifteen years older. Fred Jones had spent his whole life justifying his choices to himself and others. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if he was doing the right thing, but it wasn't often that he actually regretted anything. Now, it felt like Fred Jones was being hit with a lifetime's worth of regret all at once.

Fred Jones regretted not spending as much time as he could have to find the planispheric disk pieces. The whole reason why Fred Jones had chased off the original Mystery Incorporated kids and had Professor Pericles locked up was so that he wouldn't have anybody in his way. He'd had twenty years all to himself to search for answers, but he'd taken it for granted. Now, Freddy and his friends were looking for the pieces, and Pericles was out and about as well.

Fred Jones regretted not doing anything when Ricky Owens had come back to Crystal Cove. He'd kept an eye on the man, yes, but of all the children in the original Mystery Incorporated, Ricky was the one that Fred Jones had seen as the smallest threat. Ricky had been a nervous, awkward, somewhat cowardly boy who relied far too much on his friends, especially pericles. Fred Jones hadn't liked that Ricky had returned to Crystal Cove, but he seemed to be alone, and Ricky never did anything suspicious, so Fred Jones had left him alone. That had been a mistake.

Fred Jones had never been so furious with himself as he had been when he'd overheard a message meant for Fred, left behind by a so-called Mr. E. Fred Jones had recognized Ricky's voice immediately. It seemed that Ricky wasn't content with just running his company, he'd just been biding his time, and Fred Jones had let him.

Fred Jones regretted spending so much time taking care of Freddy, when he should have been looking for the treasure. He regretted spending so much time looking for the treasure when he should have been taking care of Freddy. Most of all, Fred Jones regretted not finding a proper family in Crystal Cove to take care of Freddy. The boy could have been raised with all the care he deserved, and Fred Jones could have spent as much time as was necessary looking for the treasure. They would both be better off if Fred Jones had just gotten over his selfish need to keep an eye on Freddy for himself.

The only thing that Fred Jones didn't feel conflicted about at all was his decision to take Freddy from Brad and Judy. All three warring parts of Fred Jones' mind were in complete agreement that was the best thing to do. The part of him that wanted to keep Freddy safe still believed that Brad was an unfit father, and Judy probably wasn't much better. The part of him that wanted to encourage Freddy to solve the mystery of this town was sure that the boy wouldn't be confident enough to do so if he'd been raised by parents who were searching for the treasure for themselves. The part of Fred Jones that was desperate to get the treasure knew that if he hadn't taken Freddy, there would be nothing keeping Brad and Judy out of Crystal Cove, and they would just get in his way.

Fred Jones knew that kidnapping wasn't a good thing that good people did, but he stood by his choice, even when he regretted everything else he had done in his life.

Fred Jones put the picture back on the mantel and grabbed the scotch again. He opened the bottle and poured himself a drink. He wasn't normally a shot drinker, but this was far from a normal kind of night. Fred Jones took his drink, probably a lot faster than he should. It burned in the back of his throat, a little more than he was used to, but he embraced the burn. It was already a good distraction from the chaos in his head.

Fred Jones drank for a few minutes, refilling his glass when it was empty. He wanted to just clear his head, but his thoughts had other ideas. Fred Jones just couldn't quiet the frustration he felt about losing his planispheric disk piece. He'd only let Freddy set traps all around their house because he thought it might dissuade intruders from stealing his piece. That plan had backfired, as it was with the help of these very pieces that Fred Jones had lost the piece to Pericles.

Fred Jones hated that stupid bird. The whole reason why he had it locked up in the first place was so that Pericles couldn't ruin his plans, and yet that was exactly what the parrot was doing. Fred Jones had kept his piece safe for twenty years, and Pericles had swooped in and ruined all of that.

Fred Jones knew that he hadn't made a lot of progress in looking for the other pieces of the planispheric disk, but he'd taken comfort in the fact that he was a sixth of the way to finishing the disk. It was reassuring that he had accomplished something. Without his disk, Fred Jones was right back where he had started, and it was discouraging and frustrating. It made Fred Jones want to go back upstairs and search for the planispheric disk piece that Freddy and his friends had found. The only thing that held him back was that Freddy trusted him.

Freddy was trusting, but he wasn't an idiot. Pericles had just stolen a piece of the planispheric disk. If Freddy was the one who had their piece, he would be more cautious about it. Freddy may have bought Fred Jones' story about why he had his piece, but Freddy wouldn't be nearly as gullible for Fred Jones looking for their piece.

Freddy and his friends seemed to be making much faster progress in solving the mysteries of the town than Fred Jones had ever done. Fred Jones knew that eventually an opportunity would show up where he could sneak in and grab their piece. If he struck too soon, he might not get the piece at all, because the kids would be expecting something like this. He might also miss out on any additional information that the kids might find. Getting a piece would do Fred Jones no good if he didn't know how to get more.

This wasn't about getting a piece of the planispheric disk. It wasn't even about getting all six of the pieces. Fred Jones' long term goal was to get the treasure, and he wasn't going to let anybody stop him, not even Freddy. He just had to wait for the right time. Fred Jones had waited for twenty years, he could wait a bit longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we've reached the part where the show takes place. I feel like this chapter is just a bit too muddled, but that's kinda the whole point. Fred Jones has so many thoughts in his head. I think that Fred Jones is being pulled in three different directions at this point. There's his father side, the side that's being influenced by the entity to go after the treasure for himself, and the side that would probably be influenced by the entity to encourage Freddy and the others to finding the treasure. Let's be real here, the entity wants to escape, and to do that it needs the mystery solving group.
> 
> I thought about writing a chapter earlier about Ricky Owens coming back to Crystal Cove. Unlike Cassidy, Ricky's still going by his own name. He's the owner of a large business, so he's not exactly flying under the radar. There's no way that Fred Jones isn't aware of who he is. Instead of writing a whole chapter about it though, I decided to just mention it in passing in this one.


	12. Chapter 12

Everything was ruined and it was all Freddy's fault...Pericles' fault...Fred Jones' own fault…

His head hurt.

Fred Jones groaned and rested his head in his hands. He'd been so close to getting a second piece of the planispheric disk, getting rid of Pericles, possibly even for good this time, and scaring Freddy and his friends away from their investigations. Everything would have been perfect, but of course it just had to fall apart.

Fred Jones was now stuck in prison with everybody else that Freddy and his friends had caught in their mystery solving antics. Fred Jones had known this was a possibility, but he hadn't actually thought it would happen to him. He'd been getting away with his Freak of Crystal Cove business for more than twenty years with nobody in town being any the wiser. He had underestimated his son and his friends, and overestimated himself.

Fred Jones could have managed it all if he'd been as focused as he should have been. He'd seen the kids sneaking around his office. He could have stopped them just as they'd found the map, but then they'd broken the picture that Fred Jones claimed was Freddy's mother, and Freddy could see clear as day that it wasn't a real picture. Fred Jones had paused just for a moment as he'd anxiously waited to see how Freddy would react. That crucial hesitation was all the kids needed to grab the map.

Fred Jones as the Freak would have gone after them, but Sheriff Stone chose that moment to do his job properly. He couldn't exactly threaten and scare the kids while they were being arrested. He'd had to go back to being regular old Mayor Fred Jones to pick up Freddy.

This might not have necessarily ruined everything. Fred Jones took Freddy home, intending to give his son an excuse as to why he had the map. He knew that he couldn't keep Freddy in the dark forever, and sooner rather than later his son would figure out exactly what was going on, but Fred Jones wanted to put that off for as long as he could. He didn't want to lose Freddy's trust.

He didn't know why he cared so much about this. He knew that the best way to keep Fredy's trust was by not betraying it. It wasn't fair or reasonable to expect Freddy to believe him when Fred Jones had given him no reason to. His son was too smart for that.

Still, Fred Jones couldn't stop hoping that Freddy would trust him. He thought a big part of his desire came from not wanting Freddy to feel like he couldn't have anybody he could trust. When Freddy was really young, Fred Jones had heard his son say a couple of times that he had a hard time trusting adults, because they never seemed to say what they meant and held impossible expectations. Fred Jones hadn't heard Freddy voice this sentiment for a few years, but he couldn't help but notice that Freddy was more reluctant to talk to him or his teachers and school counselors. Freddy's reluctance had only gotten worse since he and his friends had started solving mysteries.

Freddy seemed to be starting to half expect every adult he encountered to end up being a criminal, and Fred Jones felt horrible for doing anything to reinforce the idea. Not horrible enough to stop and forget about the treasure completely, but enough that he felt incredibly guilty about it.

Fred Jones wanted his son to believe in him for just a little longer. He would have spent several minutes trying to convince Freddy that he could be trusted, except he had more pressing matters to worry about. He'd heard Freddy say that Shaggy was the one who had the disk piece, and that was just too perfect an opportunity to pass up. If Fred Jones wanted to get the disk, he had to take it while it was at its most vulnerable. It should have been easy, but Shaggy was apparently a lot better at running than he'd thought he was. Shaggy and his dog had gotten away.

Fred Jones' instinct told him to go after the kid, but he fought it and made his way home instead, just for a few minutes. He felt like he needed to check up on Freddy and talk to him, actually have a proper talk with him, and if he didn't do it tonight then it would be too late. When Fred Jones arrived home though he found that Freddy was nowhere in the house.

Freddy had disappeared, and at least two of his friends were gone as well. Fred Jones felt the Freak rearing its ugly head. He donned the costume again and made his way to the place he probably would have gone if he had been in their position.

The old Spanish church.

It had been more than Fred Jones had expected, but nothing that he couldn't handle. He knew his way around those caves better than the kids did. It was all too easy for the Freak to sneak up on them and snag away the piece before they knew what was going on. He could have escaped, if it weren't for Freddy.

Fred Jones scowled and made a sound that he refused to admit resembled a growl. He clenched his fists around his hair. He had been _so close!_ Fred Jones was confident that he would have escaped if it weren't for Freddy's absolutely reckless determination to catch him. Freddy had almost drowned himself and his friends just so they could catch up to the Freak. Freddy had never been the most careful boy, but even this seemed excessive for him.

Fred Jones could have made his escape then and there while the kids were preoccupied with not drowning, but he couldn't bring himself to move. After Fred Jones had gotten out of the water himself, he had waited until he saw that the kids were all alive and looked relatively unharmed. He had waited, and that had given Freddy the chance to catch up to him.

Freddy, his stupid, determined, reckless son had climbed the cliff after him, endangering himself despite his friends' pleading. It was terrifying. Fred Jones couldn't keep himself from glancing behind him to check to see if Freddy was still there. Even now, hours later, Fred Jones didn't know if he'd been checking because he'd been worried that he was still being followed, or if he'd been worried that he wasn't being followed because Freddy had lost his grip and fallen. The uncertainty made Fred Jones feel a little sick.

Even with Freddy hot on his heels, Fred Jones should have been able to get away from his son. He was a faster climber than Freddy, it should have been all too easy to climb out of Freddy's reach and escape, and he'd almost managed it. He would have gotten away if it weren't for Freddy. He'd had the chance to escape, and Fred Jones had wasted it to save his son's life.

_Wasted it?_ Fred Jones felt his blood run cold at the thought. He could have gotten away, yes, but would the cost have been worth it? Was the treasure really worth his son's life? What really horrified Fred Jones was that he wasn't entirely sure.

A very strong voice in his head was shouting at him for ever letting Freddy get himself in such a dangerous situation in the first place. Things shouldn't have gotten this bad. Freddy had almost died, and Fred Jones was disgusted with himself at just how close a call it had been. What made Fred Jones feel even worse was that there was a very small voice in his head that sounded like the Freak telling him that he should have taken his chance while he'd had it. He could have gotten the treasure if Freddy hadn't been such a stubborn, meddling, child. The boy had ruined everything.

Except...Fred Jones felt like he'd been the one to mess up everything, both for himself and for his son.

Fred Jones had wanted his son to trust him, but he'd ruined any chances of that. He couldn't get the way that Freddy had looked at him out of his head. When Fred Jones had saved Freddy from falling off the cliff and pulled him up to safety, Freddy had looked up at him in disbelief. Freddy had been confused about why his father had saved his life, and it hurt.

Fred Jones couldn't blame his son for being confused though, not when a part of him didn't understand it completely himself. Especially not when just seconds before pulling Freddy up, the Freak had tried to kick Freddy away from him. He'd tried to knock Freddy away at all cost, even though he knew that if he succeeded in doing so, the boy would have gotten seriously hurt, and that was if he was incredibly lucky. The Freak had tried to _kill_ Freddy, and he was a little bit disappointed that he hadn't managed it.

What kind of a man was he? What kind of a _father_ was he, to even consider not just allowing his son to get hurt, but causing the harm in the first place, just for the sake of some treasure that may very well not exist? It was disgusting, and horrifying, and when Fred Jones finally had the chance to explain things to Freddy, he'd messed it all up.

Freddy had clearly been desperate for answers and assurances, and Fred Jones hadn't handled it the way he should have. He should have explained everything that he'd done just in front of Freddy, without his friends and their parents listening in. He shouldn't have done it so passively and almost dismissively, like him kidnapping Freddy and blackmailing his birth parents hadn't been that big a deal.

Most of all, Fred Jones shouldn't have made the stolen piece of the planispheric disk the most important part of the conversation. Freddy had been confused and hurt, and Fred Jones had made it seem like he'd been more concerned about a single piece to a possible treasure map. At the time, it had seemed so important. Now though, when it looked like Fred Jones would never get the treasure and his son might never talk to him again, he realized that the thought that scared him the most was the idea that Freddy wouldn't forgive him. That he'd hurt the boy too badly, and now they both had to live with the consequences of his actions.

Fred Jones didn't resent the fact that he was in prison. It was no less than he deserved. He'd made his bed, and now he had to lie in it. But Freddy...he didn't deserve any of this. No child deserved to have their entire worldview be flipped on its side, least of all Freddy. Fred Jones tried to tell himself that Freddy was a lot more resourceful than he was often given credit for, and he wasn't necessarily on his own. Freddy had his friends, and Fred Jones knew they wouldn't hesitate to help him. The thing was, Fred Jones was worried that Freddy would push his friends away.

Freddy wasn't good at emotions, and never had been. He felt things intensely, but he often had a hard time recognizing exactly what it was he was feeling and why. Freddy's little group of friends may be close, but they'd only really been friends for a very short period of time. Fred Jones doubted Freddy's friends would understand how to help him. Fred Jones was worried that if Freddy pushed his friends away, they might actually think it would be best to leave him on his own to figure things out, and that was the last thing Freddy needed. Freddy didn't need space, he needed support, and Fred Jones hated that he couldn't even pretend to provide that for him now.

Fred Jones sighed and leaned back. He looked around his small cell. He was glad he didn't have a cellmate. He didn't want to deal with anybody's curiosity about what the mayor of Crystal Cove was doing here, and he didn't want to hear any angry comments about his son or his friends. Right now, Fred Jones just wanted to be left alone to his own regrets. He certainly had plenty of them.

This was Fred Jones' life now. Behind bars, separated from the boy that he had raised but didn't deserve to call his son, and alone. It wasn't nice, but it was what he deserved. This was his own fault, and he had nobody else to blame.


	13. Chapter 13

Fred Jones had thought that he'd come to expect the unexpected. He'd seen people do things that he hadn't thought they were ever capable of. He even kept on surprising himself. However, nothing shocked Fred Jones more than hearing that he had a visitor.

Fred Jones had never been the kind of person who had, or wanted, lots of friends. The way that Fred Jones saw it, the more people he let close to him, the less time he had to focus on himself and his own interests. There were very few people who cared about him enough to stay in contact after he was sent to prison. Since he'd been locked away, Fred Jones hadn't heard a word from the outside world. Not a phone call, not a single letter, and definitely no visitors, and he hadn't expected any. He really didn't deserve any friendly company. Everybody that he had allowed himself to get close to, he'd pushed them all away and hurt them far too much to expect any kindness from them now.

That was what Fred Jones had thought, but he'd underestimated the loyalty of his son.

"What are you doing here?" Fred Jones asked. If he didn't see Freddy sitting right in front of him, if Freddy hadn't given him a small smile and a quick embrace when he'd first seen him, Fred Jones would think that he was just imagining it all.

"I just...I need some advice, and I didn't know who else to go to," Freddy sheepishly stepped away from his dad. He looked nervous, like even he didn't completely understand what he was doing there. "And I, well, I missed you." Freddy sat down on the chair across from Fred Jones. Freddy looked so uncomfortable and unsure that if he was a few years younger he would probably be fiddling with that ascot of his.

Freddy took a deep breath, almost like he was steeling his nerves. "Do you hate me?"

Fred Jones hadn't known what he'd been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been that. "Hasty harpys, Freddy, of course not. Why would I?" If anything, Fred Jones had thought that _Freddy_ was the one who hated _him_.

"Because I got you locked up in here." Freddy said, like it was obvious, and Fred Jones might have agreed with him in his first few hours of being locked up, but not after several months of having nothing but his reflections for company. "Because if I haven't visited you, and...and if you didn't stop to save me, you could have gotten away with the planispheric disk piece."

"First off, I got myself locked in here," Fred Jones said. "Second, you're not obligated to visit me at all. I wouldn't blame you if you just forgot about me." Freddy's slight grimace told Fred Jones that while he hadn't forgotten about him, it wasn't for lack of trying. "Lastly and most importantly, and I want you to listen carefully because I'm not going to be repeating myself, I don't regret choosing to save you." Not from falling off the cliff, and certainly not from his parents.

Freddy stared at Fred Jones in shock for a moment before he gave him a small, weak smile. "That means a lot, Dad." Fred Jones straightened. That wasn't a term that he'd expected to ever hear aimed at him again. Freddy looked as surprised and somewhat alarmed as Fred Jones was. "Sorry! I'm sorry, that just came out."

"Don't apologize." Fred Jones frowned. "Not for this." It felt wrong that Freddy felt the need to apologize for being sentimental, like it was something that Fred Jones would get upset with him for. "You don't have to call me Dad if you don't want to," Fred Jones wouldn't blame his son for that at all. "But you don't have to _not_ call me Dad either. You need to do what makes you feel most comfortable."

Really?" Freddy looked far too relieved, like Fred Jones was doing him a big favor. "What about...what about mayor Dad?"

Fred Jones didn't think he would ever understand his son's thought process. He wasn't mayor anymore, and Freddy knew he wasn't really his dad, but Fred Jones couldn't deny this request from his son. He'd told Freddy to do what made him most comfortable, and he stood by that.

"Mayor Dad it is," Fred Jones agreed. He leaned forward slightly and rested his elbows on the table. He brought his hands together, pressing his fingers against his mouth thoughtfully. "Now, you said something about needing advice."

"Right," Freddy flinched ever so slightly. "Well, I want to know what Brad and Judy were like."

Fred Jones sighed. "I really don't think I'm the best person to ask," He had a completely biased hatred for Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves.

"I know, but you're the only person I know who actually knows them." Freddy said. "I don't know what to think about them. I mean, they seem great and supportive, but...I don't know, I feel weird around them."

"Wait a second, back up," Fred Jones said. "You've _met_ Brad and Judy?"

"They're, uh, actually living with me." Freddy said quietly. Fred Jones was frozen for a moment as he tried to process. For some reason, he'd never considered that Freddy would ever properly meet his real parents, but for them to now be a regular part of his life? He didn't like it, and he didn't think that Freddy did either.

"Whose idea was it?" Fred Jones asked. Freddy frowned slightly in confusion. "I mean, did you invite them to live with you and be part of your life, or did they let themselves in?"

"Uh, they let themselves in," Freddy said. "It's not that I don't want them to be there though. I spent so long looking for them. I...I _want_ them there, but...I don't know. I guess I wasn't ready for them to just show up like this."

"You were looking for them?" Fred Jones' tone was sharper than he intended. Freddy flinched slightly, but then he squared his shoulders back and narrowed his eyes.

"What did you expect me to do?" Freddy asked. "I just found out that my whole life was a lie, that you weren't my real Dad. And you were gone. I needed _someone."_ Fred sighed and his anger seemed to deflate right out of him. "I thought that if I found my real parents, everything would make sense, and it kinda does, but it also kinda doesn't, and I don't know why."

Fred Jones pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not going to tell you what I think of Brad and Judy." He had manipulated and influenced Freddy enough, it wouldn't be fair to do it anymore. Fred Jones was worried that if he explained his feelings Freddy would either listen to him and decide that he didn't like Brad and Judy either, based solely on what Fred Jones said, or he would decide that he liked Brad and Judy and would be mad at Fred Jones for what he had said about them.

Freddy looked so disappointed, and Fred Jones didn't want to let him down. The boy had come here for help, and even if Fred Jones wouldn't give him what he asked for, he could still help. "How do _you_ feel about Brad and Judy?"

"I told you, I don't know," Freddy said.

"Do you really not know, or do you just now know how you should explain it?" Fred Jones asked. "Or maybe you know how you feel, but you don't know if it's how you _should_ be feeling."

Freddy was quiet for a moment as he thought carefully. "...They seem great. They both love traps, and there's already so much I've learned from them. They encourage my mystery solving, and they always want to talk to me, just for the sake of talking."

Fred Jones felt his hatred for Brad Chiles get stronger. He didn't like hearing that Brad Chiles was practically giving Freddy everything he could have asked for from a dad. This either meant that Brad Chiles would have always been a fantastic father, and by taking Freddy from him Fred Jones had ruined his son's chances at having a happy childhood, or Brad Chiles was manipulating and taking advantage of Freddy, just like Fred Jones had.

As great as Freddy made his parents sound, his tone was conflicted. "What's the problem?"

"It just feels too perfect, you know?" Freddy asked. "Like it can't be real." Freddy hunched his shoulders slightly. "My friend's don't think there's a problem. Shaggy thinks I'm paranoid, and Daphne says that I'm not being fair, but I feel like if it seems too good to be true, it probably is." Freddy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "They're probably right. I just don't know who I can trust."

"If nobody else, trust yourself," Fred Jones said. "You have good instincts, and a good head on your shoulder. If your gut is telling you to not trust your parents, you should listen to it."

"But what if I'm wrong?" Freddy asked. "What if they really do just want to be part of my life, and I'm pushing them away for nothing?"

"Just because you're being cautious doesn't mean you're pushing them away." Fred Jones said. "Even if you were, and even if your parents have nothing but good intentions, you still have every right to want your space."

"But they're my parents." Freddy objected.

"They've been absent your whole life." Fred Jones said. True, it may not have been entirely by choice, but the point still stood. "They're practically strangers to you, and it's not fair for anybody, not your parents, and not your friends, to expect you to just act like everything's fine right away. You need to give yourself time to figure out how you feel, and if Brad and Judy really care about you, they'll let you call the shots." Even Fred Jones knew that a good parent put their child's needs and comfort ahead of their own.

Freddy didn't look entirely convinced, but he gave him a small smile. "I don't know about that, but I'll think about it." Fred Jones was incredibly relieved. If Freddy thought he couldn't trust adults, at the very least he should feel like he could trust himself. And Fred Jones wasn't convinced that Brad and Judy weren't up to something, so it was a relief that Freddy was at least going to be cautious.

Freddy was quiet for a moment, but there seemed to be something else on his mind. "Can...can I come back to visit you sometime?"

"You don't need my permission for that." Fred Jones said.

"I know, but if you didn't want me around-" Freddy looked far too unsure for Fred Jones' comfort.

"Of course I want you to visit," Fred Jones said. "It gets really boring here." And he wanted to hear more about Brad and Judy. They'd probably changed in the past eighteen years, but

Fred Jones wasn't convinced that they'd changed for the best. If they were still interested in getting the pieces of the planispheric disk, that change was almost certainly one for the worst.

"Great," Freddy beamed. "I'll just be careful to not let Brad and Judy know that I'm visiting you."

"That would probably be for the best." Brad and Judy were probably as fond of Fred Jones as he was of them. "Just...be careful. Twenty years ago, they were just as interested in getting the planispheric disk as I was."

"I know," Freddy's expression darkened slightly. "We're being careful. Even if they're good people, you can't be too careful, right?"

"Right," Fred Jones said. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about taking things so far. It got out of my control."

Freddy looked at the table. "...I'm not going to say it's okay, because it's not. I don't know if I can forgive you, but I don't think I'm mad anymore." It certainly hurt a little that Freddy probably wouldn't forgive him, but it was what Fred Jones had expected. What the boy was willing to provide was more than he had ever hoped.

"What I told you about your relationship with your parents still applies with me," Fred Jones said. "You don't owe me everything, and you call the shots in our relationship now."

"Okay," Freddy nodded. He stood up. "I'm sorry I can't be here for long. I told my parents that I was at tutoring, but I don't know if they actually believed me."

"I'm glad you came." Fred Jones said.

Freddy gave him a small smile. "So am I. I'll come back as soon as I can."

"I look forward to it," Fred Jones said, and he meant it. He hadn't thought that he'd have a second chance with Freddy. He just hoped that he didn't mess it all up this time.


	14. Chapter 14

When Freddy had said that he would visit Fred Jones in prison, he had expected to see him just once or twice every few weeks. It would have been more than he deserved. Freddy ended up surprising him again. Freddy visited him regularly, nearly every other day. Freddy actually apologized the one time that he hadn't been able to visit for three days. Fred Jones had assured the boy that he wasn't obligated to visit him, and he'd meant it. Still, when it had been nearly five days since Freddy had come to see him, Fred Jones started to grow concerned.

Perhaps something had happened to Freddy. Being stuck in here, with nobody on the outside to tell him what was going on, Fred Jones had no idea if his son was busy, angry with him, or possibly hurt. He couldn't exactly ask anybody else of the boy's well-being, the best he could do was wait and keep an ear out.

Fred Jones normally didn't pay any attention to his fellow prisoners, but over the course of several days he couldn't help but notice a few patterns in some of the conversations between the others. It seemed that there were several prisoners who were getting visits and calls from their lawyers, more than usual. Many of the prisoners seemed excited, like they were waiting for something to happen, something big.

Every once and awhile, a prisoner would glance in his direction and mutter something. Fred Jones couldn't help but wonder if his son was involved in this matter. His suspicions were confirmed when he finally got called down to the visitor center. His boy had finally come back for a visit. It had to be him, because nobody else cared enough to visit Fred Jones.

When he entered the room he couldn't help but be a little concerned. Freddy looked exhausted, nervous, and more conflicted than Fred Jones had ever seen from him before. The moment Freddy saw him he walked up to his side and just leaned against him. Fred Jones was surprised and a little unnerved for a moment, but he raised his arm and put it around the boy in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. Freddy held onto him for a long moment before he pulled away.

"Sorry, I just...it's been a long week," Freddy ran a hand through his hair.

"What have you kids been up to?" Fred Jones asked. Freddy looked at him in alarm.

"How do you know we're up to anything?" Freddy asked.

"People in here talk," Fred Jones said. "I don't know any specifics, but what are you doing messing around with criminals?"

"They might have messed up, but a lot of the people in here are some of the smartest people I've ever met," Freddy said. "There's a lot they can help us with." Freddy was tense for a moment. "Hey, Dad...I mean, Mayor Dad," Freddy took a deep breath. "Have you ever done anything that you knew wasn't right, but it just felt so much like it was what you were supposed to do that you did it anyways?"

Fred Jones quirked an eyebrow at the boy. "I kidnapped you as a baby because I was obsessed with finding some secret treasure."

Freddy flinched sheepishly. "Right, right, I guess that was a stupid question."

"No, no, it's fine," Fred Jones said quickly. He didn't want Freddy to second guess himself. The boy seemed to have something on his mind, and he didn't want to scare him off. "What are you thinking?"

Freddy steeled his expression. Whatever he was talking about, though he may be uncertain about it, Freddy was determined. "I want to test my parents." The way that Freddy looked at him, Fred Jones couldn't help but wonder if he was just talking about Brad and Judy, or if he was included under that as well.

Fred Jones didn't exactly want to be thrown under the same umbrella as Brad and Judy, but he didn't begrudge his son for wanting to test him. He actually admired his son for this choice. Maybe it wasn't a good practice to test people, but Freddy had been given so many reasons to not trust people, it was probably smart that he was a little bit cautious. He had been hurt too much to give people the benefit of the doubt. Fred Jones wanted Freddy to trust him, and he thought it was only fair that he have to prove himself to his son.

"What's your plan?" Fred Jones asked, because Freddy always had a plan, even when one wasn't necessary.

"The less people who know the specifics, the better," Freddy said. "We're only telling people their role in this." It was frustrating, but probably a smart move. The less that people knew, the less they would be able to give away.

"Well then, what's my role?" Fred Jones asked.

"It's really important," Freddy said seriously. "Actually, the others are a little reluctant about involving you at all, but I insisted. I don't know if I can trust you with this, but I do know that you're the only person I know who would actually understand how important this job is."

Freddy was incredibly vague, but something deep within Fred Jones, the part that sounded like the Freak and was screaming to get out, had an idea of what the boy was talking about. "The Planispheric Disk."

Freddy grimaced. "I'm worried that my mom and da...that my parents are planning to take our pieces. If they do, and if they're working with Mr. E or Professor Pericles, who probably have the rest of the pieces, if they take our pieces, they'll have all of them. I don't know if this treasure is real or not, but if it is, I don't think any of the should get it."

"That's an awful lot of ifs." Fred Jones wasn't normally afraid of working with uncertainties, but it wasn't how Freddy worked.

"I know," Freddy said. "That's why I'm testing my parents, to see if I can trust them. And if I can't, then this should give us time to counter them, turn the table while they're focused on something else."

"It's not a bad plan," Fred Jones said. He probably would have done something incredibly similar if he was in Freddy's position. "How can I help?" One of the last things he wanted was for Brad and Judy, or Ricky and Professor Pericles, to get their hands on the treasure. He was starting to accept that he wouldn't ever get the treasure for himself, and that was okay, but they most certainly didn't deserve it.

"We need a safe place to keep our pieces of the Planispheric Disk," Freddy said. "Someplace where my parents would never think to look."

It took Fred Jones a long moment to figure out what exactly Freddy was saying. "Me?" He didn't believe it. "You're trusting me with your pieces?"

"I would hide them myself," Freddy said. "My traps would probably keep them safe from anybody else, but, well…"

"Bred and Judy are just as good with traps as you are," Fred Jones said.

"Better," Freddy said, which Fred Jones didn't quite agree with. They may have more experience than Freddy, but that was only because they were older. When it came to pure skill, Freddy was probably better than Brad and Judy had been at his age, and when he was older he would most certainly surpass them. Fred Jones had no doubt about that.

Freddy straightened his shoulders. "I don't know if I can trust you, but I want to. I really, really want to."

"I want that too," Fred Jones said. He knew that his son was taking a big risk in trusting him with the pieces of the Planispheric Disk. He didn't want to disappoint Freddy, but just the thought of getting his hands on the pieces was making the Freak want to rear its ugly head. The temptation would probably get even stronger the moment he had the pieces in his hands, and Freddy was probably a fool for trusting him with this.

However, Fred Jones had decided soon after being incarcerated that he was through with putting his own desires ahead of Freddy's. The boy may not be his birth son, but Fred Jones had raised him. He considered himself Fredd's father, and it was high time that he acted like it. No matter how much he wanted the pieces, he wanted Freddy's trust even more.

"I can't make any promises," Fred Jones said quietly. "You have no idea how strong the treasure's temptation is." It was almost like an addiction, something that took complete control and motivated every decision he made.

"The more I learn about these things, the better idea I get," Freddy said. "There have been lots of people who have let these pieces ruin their lives. But you're one of the strongest people I know. If anyone can resist it, I think you can."

"You have more trust in me than I have in myself." Fred Jones said. "I'll do my best." He didn't want to let Freddy down, not again.

Freddy gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure your best will be enough."

Fred Jones sure hoped so, but he had more on his mind than just what he may or may not do with the pieces of the Planispheric Disk. "If Brad and Judy fail your test, what will you do then?"

"If everything goes right, we should have all of the pieces for ourselves," Freddy said.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Fred Jones said, though he did wonder what Freddy and his friends would do with the pieces should they get all of them. Freddy hadn't showed any signs of wanting the treasure, but if there was a supernatural force at work, manipulating people, even these kids may not be able to resist it.

Freddy frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You've been hurt by me," Fred Jones said. "I know you don't trust Brad and Judy, but are you sure you're ready to learn for sure that they've just been used by them this whole time? That they couldn't actually care less about you."

"I don't know," Freddy winced. "I'd rather find out sooner rather than put it off until later, after I've opened myself up to them even more. It would hurt more if I did that."

Fred Jones knew this was probably smart, but that didn't make it fair. He was sure that Brad and Judy shouldn't be trusted, but Fred Jones found himself hoping that the two of them actually wanted nothing more than to be the parents that Freddy deserved. He desperately hoped that they couldn't care less about the treasure or the Planispheric Disk. Fred Jones wanted them to pass Freddy's test, because the boy deserved to have parents who cared, parents that he could trust.

"Just...be careful," Fred Jones said. "Do you still have the number of that therapist?" Freddy's school counselor had suggested that Freddy talk to a professional therapist, as he might get some real help from one. Freddy hadn't been open to the idea of having a therapist, but Fred Jones had convinced him to go a couple of times before he'd been arrested. Freddy may see talking to a therapist as a weakness, and a part of Fred Jones thought the same thing, but he also believed that anything that could help his son figure out how to function as a normal adult had to be a good thing.

"Yeah," Freddy said quietly. "I tried talking to him a little bit, but I haven't seen him in awhile,"

"Well, maybe you should give it another try," Fred Jones said. When he was mayor he had made sure that the families of those in prison would have some decent health care, which should cover at least some therapy. Crystal Cove may have an overwhelming number of criminals for a city of this size, but that didn't mean that the families needed to suffer more than they already were.

"It just feels so weird to complain to a stranger about my life," Freddy said.

"If you've talked to him before, he's not a stranger," Fred Jones reminded his son. "And it's his job to listen to people complain about their lives." That certainly wasn't all that a therapist did, but Fred Jones doubted he'd be able to convince his son otherwise.

"Okay, if my parents end up being, you know, not so good, I'll give it a try." Freddy said.

"Even if they don't try to steal your pieces, you should still see a therapist." Fred Jones said. If Brad and Judy were trustworthy, then a therapist could help Freddy to figure out how to feel more comfortable around them.

"Alright, I'll think about it," Freddy said.

"You'd better," Fred Jones said. Freddy had to deal with far more than anybody should have to, especially somebody who was still so young. If anybody deserved a normal life, it was Freddy. Fred Jones couldn't give that to him, and he doubted that Brad and Judy could, but maybe a therapist could help Freddy to find something resembling normal for himself. Maybe it was a long shot, but it was a chance worth taking. It certainly couldn't hurt.


	15. Chapter 15

Fred Jones didn't consider himself a violent person. He was far from being a good person, but physical violence had always been a last option for him. He would much rather resort to more subtle methods, such as manipulation, bribery, blackmail, or even kidnapping. The only time in his life that Fred Jones had regularly used more physical methods had been when he was in high school and college and on the wrestling team.

He'd done wrestling because it was the only way to get his mother, who wanted a normal, sporty son, off of his back. Everybody had been surprised at how skilled a scrawny history major could be at wrestling. Nobody seemed to understand that just because Fred Jones didn't like being physical didn't mean that he couldn't be good at it.

Despite his reluctance to fight, Fred Jones knew that if he ever saw Brad Chiles again he would show just how capable a fighter he could be.

He hated every member of the original Mystery Incorporated group with a burning passion, some more than others. Fred Jones was annoyed that Eddie let others walk all over him, and he'd never liked the way that Cassidy acted a bit holier-than-thou when she was just as bad as anybody else was. Pericles had always been a thorn in his side. The bird was far too smart. Judy Reeves had been more emotional than Fred Jones felt comfortable with, and she knew just how to use her emotions to manipulate others to get what she wanted. Then there was Brad Chiles.

Years ago, Fred Jones had thought that he hated nobody more than Professor Pericles, but that was before Brad Chiles had forced himself back into Freddy's life. Before Brad had manipulated his son, abused his trust, and tried to take his pieces of the Planispheric Disk. Before Brad had worked with his wife to _kidnap Freddy_ , their own _son_ , and try to emotionally traumatize him into giving them the Planispheric Disk.

The last time Freddy had visited him, he'd been completely distraught. The boy had spent nearly fifteen minutes rambling what seemed to be complete nonsense, pacing frantically around the room as he fiddled anxiously with his ascot. Fred Jones hadn't seen Freddy like this for years. His son still struggled with expressing his feelings, especially when he was feeling particularly emotional, but Fred Jones couldn't remember the last time it had taken Freddy so long to find the right words.

Fred Jones usually had little patience for Freddy's emotional breakdowns. That was what his friends were for. However, he knew that his son had come here for a reason. If Freddy felt the need to talk to him, Fred Jones wasn't about to push him away. If Freddy had something to say, then the very least that Fred Jones could do was give him the chance to figure it out.

It took longer than usual, but Fred Jones was eventually able to piece enough of the story together, and needless to say he wasn't very happy about it. The only thing that kept Fred Jones calm was that if he showed his temper he might scare Freddy, and this wasn't for him. Freddy needed to rant about his parents, he needed to get this off his chest, and Fred Jones was determined to not let him down.

Eventually Freddy was able to calm down enough that he could piece together a full, albeit simple, sentence. He sat down across from Fred Jones and sheepishly apologized for getting emotional. At the time, Fred Jones hadn't assured him that it was alright, that his feelings were completely justified, and if anything he thought that Freddy might be underreacting. Fred Jones wished he had said something along those lines, but he hadn't. He'd kept his personal feelings to himself, because that was what he was used to.

Freddy hadn't visited him since then, but Fred Jones didn't blame him for that. Clearly, Brad and Judy, and Professor Pericles, of course, were getting more desperate. If Freddy and his friends wanted to stop them from getting the treasure, they had to act just as desperately. Fred Jones didn't know exactly what Freddy and his friends had in mind, but he didn't ask. He didn't want to make Freddy think that he was trying to conspire against them. Whatever Freddy had planned, Fred Jones trusted that it would be good enough to counter whatever the original Mystery Incorporated group was doing.

It wasn't until Pericles' plan came into fruition and everybody in Crystal Cove, man, woman, and child, free and incarcerated alike, was dragged underground did Fred Jones even hear word that Freddy and his friends had left the country. Apparently they were supposed to be back soon, but Fred Jones hoped that the kids would just cut their losses and leave well enough alone. Pericles and the others were more unstable and desperate than ever, and the kids shouldn't have to deal with that. If Freddy was smart, he would stay away. There was nothing here for him anymore.

Fred Jones was horrified when he heard rumors that Freddy was under the city, wandering around, but that horror turned to confusion when he heard just what people had to say about it. Apparently Freddy had been down here from the start, and he wasn't being forced to work like everybody else was. There had even been a few people who insisted that Freddy was actually enforcing the work, even going so far as to threaten those who weren't working hard enough.

Something was wrong. This wasn't the boy that he had raised. This was not his son.

When Fred Jones finally saw this imposter for himself he felt fury like nothing he'd ever felt before. He certainly looked like Freddy, but his mannerisms were completely off, and he talked nothing like him. It was a wonder that anybody had ever believed that this really was his son.

Fred Jones didn't know who or what this imposter was, but he wasn't about to let them get away with this. Freddy was a sweet boy, far too kind and forgiving than he had any right to be. He had no right to be mocked like this, and Fred Jones wasn't just going to stand by and let it happen.

He didn't care if he would be rebuked or punished for it, Fred Jones dropped his digging tools, grabbed the front of the fake Freddy's shirt, and pushed him roughly against the wall. The fake Freddy let out a very satisfying grunt of pain. Fred Jones hoped that there were jagged rocks digging into his back, that this would leave a bruise.

"You have five seconds to tell me why you look like my son." Fred Jones growled. He let just a touch of the Freak slip into his voice. It didn't come as naturally to him as it used to, but it was more intimidating than his normal mayor voice.

" _Your_ son?" The impersonator looked at him in confusion for a moment before recognition came into his eyes. He chuckled darkly in a way that just didn't suit Freddy at all. "Fred Jones. I didn't recognize you." So this stranger knew him. That only made Fred Jones more angry. "Believe me, if I had it my way I wouldn't look anything like this idiot." The fake Freddy smirked in a way that almost sent shivers down Fred Jones' spine. "I can't help genetics."

Fred Jones saw red.

"Brad Chiles," Fred Jones tightened his grip on the man and tossed him down to the ground. He pinned Brad Chiles down. He didn't think it was possible to hate a man more, but then Fred Jones remembered how stressed and anxious Freddy had been when he'd visited him last, and he was somehow able to find even more hatred.

There was no need to ask the reason why Brad Chiles looked identical to Freddy. His son had told him that Brad and Judy had kidnapped him and tried to trick him and his friends, but he hadn't gotten into the specifics. Fred Jones had known that Brad and Judy couldn't be trusted and that they were going to end up stabbing Freddy in the back sooner rather than later, but even he was surprised at the level they took things.

"And here I thought that you couldn't stoop any lower." Fred Jones said. He may have done a lot of things that he regretted, but he liked to think that even at his worst he would have never resorted to this kind of manipulation.

"You kidnapped my son." Brad Chiles said. The self-righteous anger in his tone made Fred Jones seeth furiously.

"And yet you're still a worse father than I ever was." Fred Jones said. What kind of man kidnapped his own kid for the sole purpose of emotionally manipulating him? It was moments like this that made Fred Jones truly believe that kidnapping Freddy and getting him away from Brad and Judy was the best thing he could have ever done for the boy. He shuddered to think about how Freddy would have been raised if he'd remained with his birth parents.

Brad Chiles grunted and kicked Fred Jones off of him. He would have attacked the other man again, but one of the robot guards came up behind him and grabbed his arm painfully, holding him back.

Brad smirked again as he got to his feet. The look in his eyes was nothing but malicious. If that was how Brad had been looking at Freddy when the boy hadn't been sure whether to trust him or not, it was no wonder he'd been so cautious around his parents.

"Raising the brat has made you soft," Brad sneered at him, leaning close. Fred Jones scowled and clenched his fist. Before Brad or the robot could do anything to stop him Fred Jones swung his fist and hit the other man square in his jaw. Fred Jones was extremely satisfied to see Brad stagger back. He may not like to hit people like that, but he hadn't realized how long he'd been wanting to do that very thing. Brad had had this coming for a long time now.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Fred Jones said. He personally thought that he was far from soft, but compared to Brad, he would take that as a compliment.

Brad Chiles rubbed his jaw and glared at him. "Get him back to work, and make sure he stays there this time." The robot tightened its grip on Fred Jones' arm and obediently pulled him back. It pushed him back to the spot that he had abandoned. Fred Jones barely kept himself from tripping and hitting his head on a rock. Before he had even gotten his balance back the robot shoved his tool back into his hands, making him stagger again.

Fred Jones was surprised that the robot didn't resort to any real violence. They were intimidating, clearly dangerous creatures, but he'd yet to see any of them hurt any of the town's people. Whatever Pericles had brought them down here for, it must be important enough that he didn't want to risk harming any of them and losing workers. Fred Jones doubted that this semi-pacifistic behavior would last though, and he didn't want to be the one to push them to their limit. He reluctantly began to dig again. Each time he hit the dirt he pretended it was Brad Chiles, and that made it easier to keep going despite the nearly crippling anxiety he was feeling.

Knowing Freddy and his friends, it wouldn't be too long before they came down here and foolishly tried to save the people of the town and stop the original Mystery Incorporated. Fred Jones had always hated the way that Freddy was drawn to solving mysteries, but that had been motivated by an annoyance that his son had anything in common with his birth parents. Now more than ever, he wanted Freddy to just walk away from the unknown. This mystery was just too dangerous, and Fred Jones just didn't think that the potential rewards were worth the risks anymore.

Fred Jones hoped that Freddy still held onto his belief that the truth about this curse, the mysterious treasure, just wasn't worth all the pain that went into finding it. Especially since, as Freddy had pointed out, there was no real evidence that the treasure actually existed.

Fred Jones doubted that Freddy cared about the treasure at all, but the boy's obsession with keeping the potential treasure away from his parents was just as dangerous. Fred Jones didn't think Freddy would be able to walk away from this, but he hoped that he would. It would hurt if he never saw Freddy again, never got the chance to talk to him, but if it was a choice between never seeing Freddy again and the boy coming here to put himself in danger because of some misplaced loyalty, Fred Jones would pick being abandoned any day.

He didn't want to give up his son, but if it meant that Freddy was safe, Fred Jones hoped that his son would just forget about him and move on with his life. A life without curses, mysteries, traps, betrayal, and especially without parents who treated him far worse than he could ever deserve. If there was any justice in this world, Freddy would get the normal, safe life that he so badly needed and deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of the way the show ends, this feels like the most natural way to end this story...mostly. I do have a bit of an epilogue in mind, which will take place in the alternate world. So the story's not quite over yet.


	16. Chapter 16

As a high school principal, Fred Jones knew that he really shouldn't have a favorite student. It was his job as a principal to care about and try to help all of his students, and he did. He did everything he could to inspire and influence his students. If there was one student that he thought about more than the others though, one boy that he would do anything for, it was Freddy.

Fred Jones had never been all that interested in having a child of his own. There was a lot of pressure and expectations to be a good parent, and Fred Jones didn't think he could ever give a child the completely devoted attention that they deserved. Fred Jones liked being a teacher, coach, and principal because it gave him the chance to help kids, and yet it allowed him to go home at the end of the day and devote a few hours just to himself. Over the years though, Fred Jones had found himself thinking a couple of times that he really wouldn't mind having a kid of his own if that kid was Freddy.

There were a couple of reasons why Fred Jones felt so parental towards Freddy. It had started when the boy was just a child, only seven or eight years old. Fred Jones had been dragged into helping coach a children's soccer team. None of the kids had known a lot about the game, but no kid seemed more lost and frustrated than Freddy. Fred Jones had spent hours working one-on-one with Freddy, and at first it had been incredibly annoying, an inconvenient part of the job. As Freddy started to relax around him and Fred Jones started to get to know the boy properly, he had become really fond of him.

Fred Jones' fondness had grown to protectiveness when it started to become more and more common for Freddy's parents to be late to picking him up from practice, or for them to drop him off for practice nearly two hours early. Fred Jones understood that they were busy, as they'd both only recently received their medical degrees and had very long residency hours as they worked to become obstetricians, but he couldn't help but be annoyed with them.

Freddy had just been a little kid. He shouldn't have to expect his parents to be too busy for him. Whenever Freddy stayed late after practice, Fred Jones would volunteer to be the one to keep him company, and after a while he started to just take it upon himself to give the boy a ride home. Shortly after that Fred Jones had taken to picking Freddy up for practice. There had even been a few times when Fred Jones brought Freddy home with him to spend the night, because the boy had just been a child, and he really shouldn't be staying in his parents' large house by himself while Brad and Judy both had late night residency.

Even after Fred Jones had stopped coaching the children's team, he would always check up on Freddy every few days or so. He didn't know if he would forgive himself if something happened to the boy because he didn't have anybody watching him. After a few years he'd even been able to convince Brad and Judy to add him as a secondary emergency contact for Freddy, just in case something happened at school and they were too busy with their work to come for him themselves.

By the time Freddy started going to Fred Jones' high school, they knew each other quite well, and they only saw each other more regularly after that. Freddy had a hard time adapting to high school, and his teachers had an even harder time adapting to him. Freddy was probably the one child that was sent to the principal's office most often, not because he was a bad behaved student, but because he sometimes got incredibly overwhelmed and confused with his classmates and the work, or his teachers didn't know how to deal with some of his more challenging behavior.

They'd tried to have Freddy talk to the school counselor, but the teenager hadn't felt very comfortable around them, so Fred Jones had taken over helping the boy himself, since Freddy already knew and liked him.

After ten years, Fred Jones thought that he knew Freddy pretty well, so he immediately noticed when he started to act a little different. He barely acknowledged the other kids on the soccer team, and anytime he did talk to them he seemed more awkward and uncomfortable than usual, like Freddy didn't know why the others were talking to him, or what he was supposed to say to them. Freddy also got overwhelmed in school much more often, almost two or three times every day, and he was far more reluctant to come to Fred Jones' office when he was struggling, even though it was something he had done regularly for almost four years.

Fred Jones had thought that maybe it was something he had done, or perhaps something odd had happened at the most recent soccer game. After all, Freddy started to act differently shortly after the game, around the time when Fred Jones had given them the disk from Miskatonic University. However, Fred Jones soon noticed some other odd things about Freddy that seemed more personal than school or sports.

For one thing, Freddy and Daphne weren't as close to each other as they had been before. Yes, they were always together, but no longer were they alone together. Their other friends were always with them. Freddy also wasn't constantly clinging to Daphne's hand like she was the only thing keeping him grounded, and she wasn't leaning close to him nearly as often. If it didn't look like they were getting along with each other just fine, Fred Jones would think that they had broken up.

When Judy called Fred Jones, asking in a tone that was just shy if accusatory, why Freddy had been spending so much time away from home lately, he knew that something big must be going on. For as long as he'd known Freddy, he always preferred to stay in the comfort of his own home, as he was more prone to getting overwhelmed and uncomfortable when he was around large crowds, and yet the boy had started to stay out with his friends until the late hours of the night, and it just wasn't like him.

Fred Jones told Judy that he had nothing to do with Freddy's behavior, which he hoped was true. However, he was determined to figure out what was going on. It was clear that Freddy was struggling with something, and Fred Jones wasn't about to leave him alone to handle it by himself.

"Freddy," Fred Jones came out of his office to greet the boy and his friends as they showed up at school. While most students would feel nervous and awkward about getting attention from their principal, Freddy was just curious about what he wanted. Fred Jones was glad that at least this hadn't changed. "Can I speak with you?"

"Uh, sure," Freddy looked at his friends. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you later."

"Are you sure?" Daphne asked. She sounded concerned about him, though Fred Jones didn't understand why.

Freddy gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm sure." The boy followed Fred Jones into his office where they could have some privacy. "What's going on?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Fred Jones turned two of the chairs that sat in front of his desk so that they faced each other. Usually when he talked to students or parents Fred Jones would sit in his own chair behind the desk, but Freddy sometimes had a hard time relaxing when there was a desk separating them. He was always much more willing to open up if he felt like he was talking to a friend rather than a principal.

"I'm...fine." Freddy grimaced slightly, and Fred Jones realized that this problem may be bigger than he thought it was. Of all the possible answers Freddy could give about how he was feeling, a reluctant 'I'm fine' that sounded more like a question was only a slightly better answer than complete silence and a shake of the head.

Fred Jones sat down on one of the chairs and gestured for Freddy to have a seat for himself. "What's wrong?

"Nothing," Freddy said, and he didn't sound like he believed himself. "Everything's fine. It's great, actually." Freddy frowned ever so slightly. "It's just...I feel like everything's changed. They're good changes, of course, but I can't help but feel like it's wrong."

"Ah," Fred Jones nodded in understanding. Freddy had always had a hard time dealing with change. He had a very specific way of doing things, and when something came in to disrupt that it took him a while to figure out how to adapt. "Is this about the wedding?"

"No...well, a little," Freddy shifted slightly. "There are other things, but I just...yeah, I don't know how I feel about this whole wedding thing. Our parents are making such a big deal of it, and I don't know if…" Freddy grimaced and looked frustrated with himself. He seemed to be having a hard time finding the right words to describe how he was feeling. Fred Jones waited patiently. Freddy would explain things when he was ready, and if Fred Jones pushed him to talk too soon, he just might get even more frustrated with himself.

After a minute Freddy sighed. "I don't know if I want this."

Fred Jones blinked. "The wedding?"

"I don't know," Freddy adjusted his ascot. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, I l-lo…" Freddy swallowed thickly. "I really like Daphne, and I do want to spend my life with her, but getting married just seems like such a big step, and I don't know if I'm ready for it yet." Freddy almost looked ashamed to admit it, which just wouldn't do.

"If you don't think you're ready, then you don't have to get married." Fred Jones said. "You're barely nineteen. There's no rush. And there's no rule that says that you _have_ to marry Daphne to be with her." He thought that this was obvious, but Freddy's shocked expression told him that the thought hadn't even occurred to him.

"But...but our parents are putting so much time into this." Freddy said.

"It doesn't matter," Fred Jones said sternly. "It's your life, not theirs. If you rush into marriage because it's what your parents want, you might run into troubles that you might not have had otherwise. The only person who should have a say about when you get married is Daphne, because she's the one you're marrying. And I don't want you to let her pressure you into doing this either. This is something that both of you need to agree with."

"Oh, Daphne's not ready to get married either." Freddy said automatically, and Fred Jones was surprised at how casual and normal the boy sounded about this. He would think that Freddy would be a little distressed about Daphne not being ready for marriage, even if he wasn't ready himself.

"You've already talked about it?" Fred Jones asked.

"Yeah," Freddy nodded. "Daphne thinks it will be moving too quickly, and she wants to take things slower this time."

"This time?" Fred Jones raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah, me and Daphne kinda took a break from each other for a bit." Freddy said cautiously, like he was worried about what Fred Jones would think of it, even though the status of Freddy and Daphne's relationship was none of his business. When Fred Jones didn't show any judgement, Freddy continued more confidently. "We just got back together recently."

"Was the break good?" Fred Jones asked. He was a little surprised that he hadn't noticed any change in Freddy and Daphne's relationship, but maybe the two of them had just pretended to still be together because it was what was expected from them.

"I...yeah, I think it was." Freddy gave him a small smile. "I think I know myself a little better now. It took me a while to figure out who I was without Daphne." Fred Jones felt relieved. Many teenagers and young adults felt completely lost if they weren't in a relationship with somebody. He was glad that Freddy didn't feel the need to define who he was by who he was with.

"Have you talked to your parents about this?" Fred Jones asked. He frowned when Freddy flinched and looked slightly pained. At least part of what was bothering Freddy had to do directly with his parents. "Did something happen?"

"No, but I haven't talked to my parents about anything really." Freddy sighed. "I know I should talk to them about this, but I don't feel like I can. It's like, I don't know, I feel like they don't know me at all." Freddy rubbed the back of his neck. I don't know if I _want_ them to know me."

It wasn't unusual for teenagers to claim that their parents didn't understand them, but it was Freddy's last bit that made Fred Jones think that there was more to it than just teenage rebelliousness. When Fred Jones thought about all the times when Freddy had come to him for help with homework, because his parents were either too busy or didn't know how to explain things in a way that Freddy could understand, or how neither Brad nor Judy haven't come to one of Freddy's soccer games since he was eight years old, he thought he understood.

"You know, just because they're your parents doesn't mean that you have to have a relationship with them if you don't want to." Fred Jones said. Freddy gave him a small, almost sad smile.

"I know, but I don't know what my problem is." Freddy said. "I mean, they're good people."

"That doesn't make them entitled to a relationship with you." Fred Jones said. "If you don't feel comfortable around your parents, that's okay. You're not obligated to like them just because they raised you. Do what feels right for you, even if you don't understand it."

"Yeah, I...I guess you're right." Freddy let out a shaky breath, looking relaxed for the first time since he came into the room. "It just feels weird."

"It will take time to get used to," Fred Jones said. Perhaps what Freddy really needed was a bit of a break from his parents, similar to what he had with Daphne. Either Freddy would come to appreciate and understand his parents more, or he would realize that he felt better when he didn't push himself to be who his parents wanted him to be. "Did you look at that disk from Miskatonic University?"

"Oh, yeah," Freddy grinned. "We've, uh, we've been admitted into Miskatonic University. We were planning on going on a road trip on our way up."

Going to school and travelling a bit before then sounded like excellent ways for Freddy and his friends to get out, realize who they were, and truly experience the world outside of Crystal Cove. Fred Jones was a little surprised that Freddy and his friends had been admitted into a school that they'd probably never heard of before, but they really were exceptional kids. If Fred Jones' colleague had sent the disk specifically for these kids, it had to be for a good reason.

"You sound excited." Fred Jones said.

"I am," Freddy said. "Being with my friends, figuring things out, right now that's all I want."

"You know that school is going to be a really big change," Fred Jones said. He had no doubt that Freddy would be able to handle it, but it would be very difficult for him. The classes would be harder, the social expectations were completely different, and no matter what one's relationship with their parents was, there was an adjustment period to suddenly living away from them.

"I know," Freddy said. "But I want to do this."

"Then by all means, go for it." Fred Jones wasn't trying to discourage the boy from doing what he wanted. Only Freddy knew what he wanted from life. Fred Jones was just here to help guide him. "Have any of you talked to your parents about your plan?"

"Uh, I think Velma has," Freddy said sheepishly. "But the rest of us…" He trailed off, and Fred Jones understood why. Brad and Judy, as well as the Rogers and Blakes had very specific ideas of how they thought things should be. They had plans for their children, and they would definitely not react well if their kids went against those plans.

"I'll help talk to them," Fred Jones said. It wouldn't be the first time he had intervened for his students when their plans went against their parents'. "But you can't just go all the way to the other side of the country without telling your parents first." Brad and Judy may not be the most present of parents, but even they would notice if their son suddenly went missing. It may take them some time to notice, but they would eventually.

"Thanks, Mayor Da-Coach…" Freddy grimaced like he had a bad taste in his mouth.

Fred Jones sighed. He didn't know where Freddy got this idea to call him Mayor Dad. He'd never been mayor, and he'd never been a father, but Fred Jones didn't mind the name. It just felt right, and if that was what came naturally to Freddy, it was just fine with him.

"You can call me Mayor Dad, if you want." Fred Jones said.

Freddy looked at him in slight shock for a moment before he laughed at something that Fred Jones didn't understand. "Thanks." Freddy sounded so relieved. Whatever this was seemed incredibly sudden to Fred Jones, but it was obviously important to Freddy.

The warning bell rang. Class was about to start. Freddy looked up at the bell. He stood up. "I should probably get going."

Fred Jones stood up as well and put a hand on Freddy's shoulder to stop him before he could leave. "Just know that my doors are always open. If you need advice or just want to talk, I'm here."

Freddy stared at him for a long moment before he grinned. "I know." Freddy looked conflicted for a moment before he quickly moved forward and wrapped his arms around Fred Jones, embracing him. He was caught off guard for a moment, but Fred Jones finally put a hand on Freddy's back and gave it a light pat. After a long moment Freddy pulled away. "Thanks, Dad...for everything." Freddy ran out of the room before Fred Jones could even think of how to respond.

Fred Jones smiled slightly as he just looked at the door that Freddy had left through. He didn't understand that boy at all, and he didn't think he ever would, but there was no doubt in his mind that he deeply cared about the boy, and that was enough for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're at the end. I was so tempted to go into greater detail of the alternate world's Fred Jones' relationship with Freddy while he was growing up, except I think I'm going to be writing another story that talks about just that but in greater detail. That should be a lot of fun to write, because it will be all about our favorite Mayor Dad really embracing his softer side that cares about Freddy.


End file.
